Wonderland
by Caroline L'Amoure
Summary: Alisha was once a normal girl, who just happened to find a stray McCaw. When the McCaw saved her from an attack and brought her through a door into Wonderland. He suddenly turns into a man, insisting she's the one who can save their world.
1. Chapter 1

Alisha stared down at the paper in front of her in dismay. It was her latest math test- and it was not at all good. She groaned in agony and put her forehead in her palms, wondering what her mother was going to say when she saw this new grade through the school's online grades database parents could use.  
"Hey Scars, what's wrong?" The boy behind her sneered. Alisha gritted her teeth in frustration at his mocking nickname. She absently ran a finger along the curved birthmark on the side of her face that was the target of most of the teasing she had gotten throughout her life. They didn't care that it was her 16th birthday, every day to them was another opportunity to make her feel misery and give them some sort of gratification that they could do so. The bell rang for the end of the day, and Alisha let out a sigh of relief as she stood, quickly walking with the other students out of the classroom.  
"Remember, tomorrow is the start of the next unit! Be sure to take good notes." The teacher said quickly as the students scrambled out to catch the buses for going home.  
Once out of the classroom, Alisha walked leisurely down the hall as the other students ran past her to try to catch the bus within the 5 minutes they allowed between the end of the last class and when the busses left the school. She didn't have to worry about missing any buses- she always walked home because she lived within a mile of the school. Which was a hassle in the winter when the snow made the trudging home that much harder, but on nice days like this it was nice to just walk at her own pace.  
She walked out the doors of the school and up the sidewalk leading to the houses of the neighborhoods that surrounded the building. As she passed a house, she turned at the smell of smoke and ashes filling her nose. The abandoned house had been burned down at some point that day- all that remained now were the blackened ashes of its base structure. She started walking, but paused when she heard some sort of strange bird call. She was used to hearing birds constantly around here, but this seemed different. She looked around to see a splash of color among the black of the house and curiously walked over, shocked when she saw a large Scarlet McCaw sitting on the ground, tilting its head at her curiously.  
"Well how did you get here? Did you get out of someone's house?" Alisha smiled at the bird, kneeling down in front of it.  
"House?" The McCaw copied in the normal bird-like voice parrots used to imitate humans.  
"Oh, you can talk?" Alisha smiled. She had always loved parrots, and was amazed how they could imitate humans so well that it seemed like they could talk.  
The parrot bobbed its head up and down excitedly and flapped its wings, hopping a bit closer to her and looking up at her. "Hello!" It said.  
"Hello." Alisha said back, surprised that the parrot was willing to get closer to her. "Should we ask around for your owner? I'm sure they're missing you."  
"Owner!" The parrot yelled, flapping its wings again. "Searching, searching!" It looked up at her again as Alisha looked up, seeing a car pass by. She hoped she wouldn't get in trouble for getting so close to a burned down house.  
"Owner, owner!" The parrot said happily, flapping its great wings and landing on her shoulder, bobbing its head up and down as it rested on the strap of her backpack.  
Alisha laughed as the bird continued to dance happily on her shoulder, shifting from foot to foot as he bobbed his head. "Alright then, let's ask around to see if anyone close by is missing you." She stood, the bird flapping its wings for balance slightly.  
After going from house to house searching for someone who might have been missing the parrot, she figured that the bird must have flown from further away than the few houses around the burned down house.  
"Maybe we'll just put up signs? I don't want to leave you out here or anything. Hopefully mom won't mind if you stay in the house for a bit." Alisha smiled as the bird trilled, swaying with her steps as she started walking home.

"Hey mom?" Alisha walked into the door, greeted by her small Scottie dog, who looked up at the bird curiously. The parrot squawked in fear, flapping his wings furiously and flying off Alisha's shoulder to perch on the side of the counter in the kitchen, chirping and squawking in warning at the Scottie dog, who quickly ran away in fear at the sight of such a large bird being so aggressive.  
"What's wrong, Luke?" Alisha heard from the other room. She walked in to see her mother petting the dog to calm him down.  
"Um… I found a bird on the way home, and I think it might belong to someone. Do you think we could keep it here until I can find the right owner? I want to post signs for it."  
"Alright, but make sure to keep out a detail for identification. Someone might try to take it when it doesn't belong to them." Alisha's mother said, smiling.  
"Alright." Alisha smiled, walking back out to the kitchen. She spotted the bird looking down at the sink, his claws clicking as he walked closer to the edge.  
"Careful." Alisha said in warning, and was surprised when the bird stopped, as if he had understood her. It looked up at her and trilled before flying back over to her shoulder. Alisha brought him into her room, watching as the bird flew down onto her bed. "Make yourself at home." Alisha smiled. "We should probably give you a name while you say here so I don't have to call you 'bird'. What should we call you?" Alisha sat on the bed next to him. "Do you like… Primo? You have primary colors." Alisha watched as the bird squawked, flapping its wings angrily. "Okay okay, I guess not." She laughed. "How about… Hermes? He's the greek god of travel and messengers. Pretty fitting for a parrot, I'd say. Do you like the name Hermes?"  
The bird bobbed its head up and down, trilling. Alisha smiled, holding out her arm for him to perch on. "Alright then, we'll call you Hermes."

A couple days later, Alisha sighed as she flopped down into her bed. Hermes was sitting on her bed, looking down curiously at one of the books she had open.  
"Time for bed, Hermes. Maybe your owner will call tomorrow I put up a bunch more signs today." She sighed, changing into her pajamas as the bird watched the wall in front of it, as if watching something intently. He turned back around as Alisha flopped back onto the bed.  
"Alright, if you need to go to the bathroom just scratch at the window again." She said, drifting off to sleep as the parrot trilled happily.

"Wake up, wake up!" Alisha heard, sitting up slowly. "They've found us, you have to wake up! We have to go!"  
She sat up and looked around the room to see Hermes flying around her ceiling, squawking in warning, before flying back down to the bed. He flapped in front of her to surprise her awake.  
"We have to go before they get to you! We have to get back to the park- I know the way, but we have to go now!" He said in his normal parrot-like voice.  
"I must be dreaming. Are you talking?" Alisha rubbed her drowsy head as Hermes squawked angrily.  
"Just get up! We will talk later- we have to go!" Hermes flew over to the window, scratching at it frantically with his talons. He let out a terrified screech when red eyes appeared on the other side of the window pane. "They are here!"  
"Who's here? what's going on?" Alisha watched Hermes fly frantically around the room.  
"The shadows have found us! We must get you back home before they capture us!" He said while flying in circles. "Hurry, hurry!"  
Alisha didn't know what was going on, but she stood up and changed into clothes as quickly as she could. "We can't wake mom up, she'll wonder why we're going out. Wait- this is a dream, why does it matter?"  
"We will be quiet, do not worry." Hermes swooped down and perched on her shoulder, running a bit of her hair through his beak anxiously. "Hurry!"  
"Alright, where are we going?" Alisha whispered as they crept down the hall.  
"To the park." Hermes whispered back.  
Alisha walked out of the door, closing the door softly behind her and started running down the sidewalk, Hermes leaping off her shoulder and flying beside her. She let out a yell of surprise when something latched onto her leg, and looked down to see a black cat scratching at her pants, hissing angrily.  
"What's going on?!" Alisha yelled as she shook her leg to unlatch the cat.  
"It's a shadow creature!" Hermes squawked. "Hold still!" He scratched at the cat with his talons, taking the cat's tail in his beak and biting down. The cat shrieked in pain and ran off. Hermes took to the air again, flapping ahead of Alisha as she continued running. She heard a loud growl and looked behind her to see a large black dog running behind her with red eyes glowing in the night. She let out a yell of fear and started running faster, gasping for breath as she saw the park in view, which was on the other side of the burned down house where she had first found Hermes. She ran into the park, looking around at the chain-link fence that surrounded the playground in the middle of a large grass field.  
"Now what?" She gasped for breath a Hermes flew beside her.  
"We must take you to Wonderland. It will be safer there, and the Loyalists will protect you." Hermes said, flying past Alisha to the back of the park. Alisha let out a yell of fear as the dog tackled her to the ground, his jaws clamping shut just inches from her face.  
"Let her go!" Hermes yelled, swooping down and ravaging the dog's face with his talons. The dog yelped and swatted at him, missing by inches as Hermes flew away. He passed Alisha, trilling with excitement as he saw her pick up a broken branch, holding it like a baseball bat while the dog charged her again. She swung as hard as she could, clobbering the dog on the side of the head so that it fell to the ground dazed, but not dead.  
"Hurry, hurry! We have to get to Wonderland!" Hermes squawked, flying onward toward the back of the park.


	2. Chapter 2

Alisha followed Hermes to the back of the park, avoiding the cat as it tried to bite at her feet again.  
"Please tell me what's going on! Why are these animals all attacking me?" She yelled, wincing as the cat's claws dug into one of her heels.  
"Later! We have to find the door." Hermes looked around, flying along the back of the park's fence. He squawked happily when he spotted an intricately carved door behind some overgrown ivy.  
"Alisha, I found it!" He yelled, his talons trying to grab at the handle. He let out a low trill of frustration, flying quickly back over to Alisha, who was trying to kick the cat off her leg again. The cat let go and flew into a nearby bush as Alisha followed Hermes back over to the door.  
"Why is this here?" She looked at the carvings on the door of different animals, all intermingled with each other in some sort of battle.  
"It's the door to Wonderland. Open it, and go through! Hurry before the shadows come back!" Hermes flapped his wings frantically as she opened the door and pushed her in with his talons before flying in himself, the door shutting behind them on its own.  
Bright lights filled Alisha's vision to the point of blindness as she tried to keep herself awake, the sensation of stretching fogging her mind. She heard Hermes' pained squawks somewhere nearby and finally lost consciousness as everything seemed to suddenly stop.

"Alisha, wake up." A smooth male voice broke the silence of her mind, making her move restlessly. It didn't sound familiar.  
"Come on, wake up. We have to get moving." The voice said more urgently. "They're still coming, and I don't know how long it will take them to get here."  
"Who are you?" She groaned as her head throbbed in pain. She realized someone was holding her in a sitting position, large strong hands easily holding her up. She quickly opened her eyes and froze when she met concerned deep blue eyes staring back at her.  
"Ah good, you're alright." He sighed in relief. "I didn't know that would be so traumatic for you, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this all to happen this way." He looked to the ground as if in anger at himself and looked back up to her. "Are you feeling well?"  
"Uh…" Alisha looked him over with wide, shocked eyes. His hair- if you could call it that- was actually a mixture of yellow, blue and red feathers, matching the large wings sprouting from his back. Otherwise he looked mostly human- a handsome, well-built human.  
She shook her head at that last thought and blinked up in shock at him. "Wait… _Hermes?_"  
"Yes." He smiled. "This is probably quite a shock to you, huh?" He chuckled, the wings behind him unfolding slightly.  
"Uh… yeah." She stammered. "You're a… whatever you are. Human?"  
"No, not human. I don't think there is a name for what my species is, but we are not human." He looked to her suddenly seriously, his blue eyes flashing into a darker shade. "You are currently the only human in this world, Alisha. The shadows will know what you are and try to hunt you. But the others will protect you the best they can. It is the duty of the Loyalists to protect our leader."  
"_Leader?_" Alisha gasped. "I can't lead anyone."  
"Leader is only a technical term. There is much to explain, but we have to get moving." He helped her stand, his massive wings unfolding behind him so that they stretched out, the feathers rustling as they swayed slightly in the wind. "Grab onto my shoulders and hang on tight." He said, looking down at her. She stared up at him in surprise for a minute before he rolled his eyes in frustration and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her to his side as he started running. With one great leap he took to the air, his large red, yellow and blue wings flapping behind him to carry them into the air. Alisha squeaked in fear as the ground below seemed to get smaller and smaller, practically wrapping herself around him as she gripped tightly to his chest.  
"You are afraid of flying?" Hermes laughed. "Do not worry, I will not let you fall."  
Alisha nodded quickly and looked around them, noticing that instead of the normal colors that things usually were- they were reversed. The sky was green, and the grass was some kind of teal-blue below them.  
"Why is everything so different?" She looked up at Hermes, who glanced down to her.  
"This is a different world. We used to be on your world, but were… how should I say this… banished."  
"Why were you banished?" Alisha asked, starting to relax in his grip.  
"I do not know. Long ago your world was cleansed of all magic that once existed there. We were all brought to this world, where things are similar, yet different. Now when we go back to the world we once were at, we lose our magic and are turned into the animal that we represent."  
"So when you went back you changed into a real Parrot?"  
"Exactly." He nodded.  
"But why didn't you tell me you weren't really a parrot? You could talk the whole time?" Alisha frowned, feeling a bit like she had been fooled.  
"What would you have done if a parrot started talking to you in full sentences?" Hermes looked down at her with an amused smile. "You might have sold me to a circus or something."  
"That's true, I suppose. I at least would have been surprised." She smiled back. "WAIT! So you saw me change all those nights!" She said in horror.  
Hermes blushed, looking away uneasily. "No, I turned away."  
Alisha glared at him, as if she didn't believe him until they heard a sound below them.  
"Who are you?" A white creature below them yelled, opening large membrane wings to fly up to their level. She looked at Hermes suspiciously before spotting Alisha, her eyes widening in surprise.  
"A human? Where did you find her?" The white female bat looked to Hermes.  
"She is from the Otherworld. The shadows attacked her, so I brought her here." He said simply, his voice suddenly deeper as he turned serious.  
"I see." The bat watched him for a moment before looking to the girl. "My name is Andrea Gale, but you can call my Gale if you'd like. I was scouting for a nearby settlement, and spotted this guy up above." Gale pointed to Hermes. "Stuck out like a sore thumb. You usually don't see his kind this far north."  
"There is a settlement nearby? Where is it?" Hermes said in interest. "I do not think I should fly very far. It seems Alisha is afraid of high places."  
The bat looked down for a minute before looking back up in confusion. "Why?"  
"I don't have wings- I'd drop like a rock if I actually fell." Alisha said, reminded of where she was and tightened her grip around Hermes.  
"Alright then, if you want to get to the settlement then follow me." Gale smiled, swooping lower. Hermes followed, making Alisha let out a squeak of protest at the sudden drop. He resisted a laugh as they swirled further downward in circles, putting his arms around her for support as he landed on his feet, running for a bit before slowing to a walk and stopping, letting Alisha down. She sighed with relief once back down on the ground again and looked over to see Andrea landing a little ways away. She looked human as well- except for the large bat wings and -even stranger- a set of two large white bat ears. They walked through a field until they got to a group of tents on the other side, some people chopping down the trees surrounding the small tent village while others prepared food or gossiped. They looked up in shock as she passed by, making her bite her lip nervously at their wide-eyed stares.  
"I will explain more once we have gotten settled in. You are probably filled with questions by now." Hermes glanced down at her as they walked toward a particularly large tent, which actually looked to be made up of a series of tents connected together.  
"You should probably talk to the leader of the camp before you get too relaxed." Gale smiled to them, pulling her long white hair down from the ponytail it had been in.  
"A good idea. They are in this tent, then?"  
"Yes, the two brothers are." Gale motioned for them to go in first before walking into the tent as well. There was a group of men sitting around a small fire, the smoke wafting through the air before escaping through the hole at the top of the tent. They all looked up at the intruders, and a particularly strong looking lion stood with a frown as he glanced toward Alisha.  
"What's the meaning of this? Who are these people, Gale?"  
"I found the bird carrying a human just outside of the camp. I thought it would be best to bring them to safety before the darkness comes."  
The lion looked toward Hermes, who brought his chin up confidently, though his eyes were filled with fear as he stepped uneasily away from the advancing lion.  
"Alright bird, you have some explaining to do. Where did you find the human?" The lion growled.  
"She is from the Otherworld, and was being attacked by shadows. I brought her here to keep her safe."  
"Attacked by shadows in the Otherworld?" The lion glanced toward Alisha. "Why?"  
"She carries the mark." Hermes said simply, but Alisha looked at him in confusion.  
"What mark?"  
Hermes sighed before moving the hair from her face, revealing the birthmark on her cheek, which was a series of jagged swirling lines. "The mark."  
The lions paused for a minute in shock before the leader nodded slowly. "Very well. She is in our protection. Pirko, would you please show them to a vacant tent?" The lion looked over to a much leaner lion who frowned slightly and nodded. The younger lion brought them to a large tent, opening the flap and motioning for them to go in.  
"The next meal will be shortly." He said simply, and walked back to the main tent. Hermes watched him walk away before turning around to see Alisha staring at him with a frustrated expression.  
"What? Did I do something?" He asked defensively at such a fierce look.  
"I want to know what's going on! Yesterday I went to high school and today I was attacked by rabid cats and dogs, flung into this crazy world and the parrot I found is actually a guy with wings and crazy hair!" She yelled in frustration and flopped down onto the ground, crossing her legs.  
"I did not mean for it to happen this way, truly. I was hoping I could introduce myself properly when I was still a parrot. I did not realize the shadows were so close to finding you." Hermes folded his wings tightly against his back and sat down beside her on the floor of the tent, which was lined with furs. "Do you wish for me to explain myself?"  
"Yes." She sighed. "Please."  
"Very well." Hermes shifted his position so that he was facing her. "As I said before, our kind has no name. I do not know what humans would call us now, but we used to be known by many names while still in your world. Faerie, Tuatha De Dannan, and things like that were what we used to go by. However our counterparts are a different matter." Hermes sighed, looking toward the ground uneasily. "For every Loyalist, a Shadow is born. That is to say, that every being of the light also has his or her own shadow that is the opposite of themselves. While beings of the light are born, Shadows are… created. By what I do not know, but they do not give birth like creatures of the light do."  
"So somewhere out there in this world there's an evil version of you running around?" Alisha gasped.  
"Yes, there is an 'evil' version of everyone you have seen in this settlement." Hermes nodded. "And all of the shadows wish to get rid of you. You are too much of a danger to them."  
"Danger, but how am I a danger? I haven't done anything wrong to them." Alisha protested, annoyed that an entire race of people would want her to die for no apparent reason.  
"On the contrary. The mark on your cheek tells of your heritage. You are the rightful queen of our lands."  
Alisha froze, her eyes wide at that past part. "_What_?!" She gasped.


	3. Chapter 3

"The queen of Wonderland has say over all magical creatures. There are far more beings in this world than just our kind. Wizards, elves, demons, spirits, druids, treants, and many more." Hermes looked uneasily at her shocked expression. "You will have domain over all. You do not like it?"  
"No! I can't be a queen, I don't even know how to lead anyone anywhere." Alisha said in panic. "I'm just a high school girl who keeps to herself! I can't do anything like that."  
"If you do not, our lands will fall into shadow." Hermes said solemnly. "You are our last hope, Alisha."  
"What do you mean 'fall into shadow'?" Alisha whispered, her eyes wide.  
"The shadows are amassing an army of unimaginable size. They wish to take over our lands and make the dark the dominant force in Wonderland."  
"What can I do against that?"  
"Our people are scattered- different tribes of beings gathered in the stretches of the land that are not joined together. We have to join our forces together to combat this evil before it overtakes us."  
"How do you know this is happening?"  
"Because my hometown was destroyed by shadows." Hermes said, his blue eyes turning sad. "They killed my family, friends and everyone I knew. They do not show mercy, Alisha."  
"They killed your family?" Alisha gasped in horror.  
"Even my little sister." Hermes nodded. "I was lucky to get away to the capitol."  
Alisha sat in silence, not really knowing what else to say. She noticed Hermes's face fell into an unemotional mask and looked up as Pirko appeared in the flap of the tent, pushing it aside and balancing two plates with food on them.  
"I don't know what humans eat, so I got some of everything." He mumbled uneasily, glancing from Hermes to Alisha and then back again. "I assume you eat what most birds like?"  
"Correct." Hermes said, taking the plate with few pieces of meat on it and handing the one with more to Alisha.  
"Thank you." Alisha smiled happily to Pirko, who blinked at her in surprise, cleared his throat and quickly retreated from the tent.  
"So… you guys need for me to be queen, huh?" Alisha looked down at her food uneasily. It didn't look like anything she had seen before- they were all strange neon colors. At least the meat was a normal well-cooked brown.  
"Yes. Without you we cannot hope to win. Though we have armies fighting the shadows as we speak, we do not have nearly enough people for the cause." Hermes spoke around a mouthful of fruit. He looked up suddenly as a shout came from outside the tent, followed by another. He put down his plate and went quietly to the flap of the tent, looking outside. He swore loudly and shut the flap again, grabbing Alisha by the waist, making her drop her plate in alarm. He took a dagger from his belt and slashed a hole through the other side of the tent, tugging himself and Alisha through it and into the chaos outside.  
"Hermes!" Gale shouted from above, flying above as someone else followed her, making her yell in fear and flap her bat wings faster, trying to keep away from the nasty looking spiked club in their hand.  
"Get her out of here!" Pirko yelled, fending off a strange looking man who growled fiercely, his red-glowing eyes looking to Alisha and widening in realization.  
"SHE'S HERE!" He yelled, pointing toward Alisha with a loud shout. The shadows around the settlement stopped their attack to look in the direction he was pointing as silence suddenly fell over everyone. Alisha heard Hermes curse quietly and grabbed her by the waist again, holding her to his hip as he started running as fast as he could, jumping into the air as his wings unfurled behind him, flapping hard to carry him upwards.  
"Hold on tight." he said through bared teeth as the shadow who had been chasing Gale turned his attention to Hermes instead.  
"Into the forest!" He yelled behind him as he flew quickly toward the trees, narrowing his wings so that he could glide between the trunks of the tall trees, losing the shadow that had been flying after him. He risked a look over his shoulder to see Gale following close behind him, a scrape on her shoulder telling that she hadn't gotten away without injury. Others were running after them on the ground including Pirko and the other survivors from the settlement. As soon as he had gotten a good distance into the tree line and landed on the ground, running for a bit before skidding to a stop and turning around.  
He raised his hands high over his head, his wings spreading wide behind him as an angry expression overcame his usually smiling face. The trees behind the people from the settlement suddenly started swaying violently, roots coming up and twining until the pathway that had led into the forest was now closed off, the shadow's angry shouts on the other side telling that they had been stopped. Hermes sighed and lowered his arms, bending over wearily as he looked to those around him. Not very many were left from the settlement- many had been either killed or too injured to live for long in the ambush. Curse those shadows for attacking such innocent people. No one had deserved to die.  
"Now what?" Pirko panted, his voice laced with an angry growl. "If we leave this forest we're dead."  
"Then we'll stay in here." Gale snorted in frustration. "That's not so hard."  
Pirko raised his eyes to glare at her as he bent over, trying to catch his breath. His ears twitched and he looked around the group and frowned. "Where's my brother?"  
"He didn't make it." A small voice said, and Alisha looked around for it. A small woman stepped out of the group, long white hair mixing with the white, black-tipped rabbit ears that flowed down the back of her shoulders. "He was one of the first killed." She said solemnly.  
Pirko froze, his eyes wide. "He's gone?"  
The girl simply nodded, looking over to Hermes. "I didn't know you were a vine weaver." She said in interest.  
"It's not something I usually go around pronouncing." He shrugged.  
"I see. My name is Quezari. I'm the healer of the settlement… or, was." She looked at the blocked entrance to the forest sadly. "So where are we going now?"  
"That's a good question." A red fox said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.  
"We should head to someplace where I can still protect Alisha. We must bring our people together to fight the shadows." Hermes looked around the group. "Will you come with us?"  
"As if we had a choice." a ferret snorted. "Alright, which way then, bird?"  
Hermes looked around him uneasily until he smiled softly, but the smile soon vanished as he looked back toward the group. "We should head south- to the jungles. My people there will be able to help us."  
"Great, more birds." Pirko growled.  
Hermes sent him a glare before turning around and starting to walk south. Alisha followed behind him, watching the grass at her feet uneasily. She knew by the burning feeling on her back that the others were blaming her for their homes being destroyed. If she hadn't come along, then the shadows wouldn't have bothered to attack the settlement.  
"Don't worry about them." Gale smiled, setting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You'll do fine."  
"I'm not so sure about that." Alisha whispered, but knew Hermes was listening since he looked over his shoulder at her curiously. "I'm not used to leading anyone."  
"You'll learn- besides, you have Hermes to help you out- and I'll be more than willing to help as well." Gale smiled again. "And I'm sure Que will be too. If she's not dying from heat in the jungle." Gale glanced to the rabbit, who was looking very disappointed.  
"I wasn't made for warm. It's too…. sunny." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I wish we could head north." She sighed. "But nooooo- we're being led by a tropical bird. Typical- I have the worst luck." Quezari sighed, shaking her head in disgust.  
"She may complain some, but she's a good healer. A lot of people here will probably be sad for a while, but I'm sure they're willing to help you. You are the queen, after all. That mark proves it." Gale looked curiously at the swirling mark on the side of Alisha's cheek.  
"I suppose." Alisha sighed, not able to help but run her fingers along the mark out of habit. Whenever she was reminded it was there it made her feel like she stood out.  
"Ah, she is the queen?" Someone behind them said in interest. "I'm sorry- I did not mean to eavesdrop but that is what you said, right?" The ferret who had spoken up earlier was looking at them eagerly.  
"Yes, she is." Gale said happily. "She has the mark- and Hermes brought her here from the Otherworld when she was being attacked by shadows."  
"Ooh, the Otherworld? What's it like there? Is it like here?" The ferret looked up to Alisha with wide eyes.  
"No, not like here. There's bigger cities and a lot more people. We have buildings that reach up really high, and are made of metal."  
"Oooooooooh." The ferret wondered. "That must be really pretty."  
Alisha smiled, looking back at the Ferret. "It is. What's your name?"  
The Ferret looked off at the trees before blinking in surprise at being asked a question. "My name is Griffix. I used to be a gatherer."  
"Well it's nice to meet you all. Do you have any idea how long it'll take to get to where Hermes wants to go?" Alisha said uneasily. Her feet were already starting to hurt- especially the claw marks that the cat had given her on her ankles.  
"A couple days' journey." Hermes said with a smile over his shoulder, his wings tucked against his back. "We need to skirt around the Treant forest- so it'll take longer than the straight route."  
"Treants?" Alisha said curiously, but decided not to ask as everyone nodded solemnly in agreement.


	4. Chapter 4

Alisha walked through the sticky gunk on the forest floor in disgust, picking her feet up higher than usual and feeling her stomach churn when she watched… _something_ drip off the soles of her shoes.  
"We're entering the bogs. We'll have to go slower, and no one stray from the path." Hermes said, looking up at the canopy and wishing he could just fly over this horrible place.  
"Um… what is this?" Griffix stopped, pointing to a particularly deep and murky water. Gale and Que gathered behind him, looking down into the water.  
"It looks like an animal or something." Gale said, squinting her eyes to try and make out the shadow beneath the water. They heard a sigh behind them and Pirko picked up a large rock, tossing it into the water as the girls squealed to get away from the muck as it flew in all directions. The rock moved enough water so that what was underneath the muck was now very clear for all to see- a shriveled body of a female cat with long black hair, an expression of anger and horror frozen on her face- and beneath her yet another shadow appeared underneath the depths.  
"Oh my God!" Gale yelled as Que quickly covered her mouth, her stomach churning at the sight. "The water's filled with… with people!" She looked all around them at the shadows underneath the calm waves.  
"What?!" Alisha stopped in her tracks, knowing she shouldn't look down at the water- but she couldn't help it. Underneath the muck was the body of a small child- not 7 years old, lying forever frozen. He also had short black hair.  
"Are these all… shadows?" Alisha looked at another person in the water, who also had black hair.  
"Yes, and we have to get through here by night fall." Hermes insisted. "They tend to be angry at trespassers at night."  
"What do you mean 'they tend to get angry'?" Alisha stared at Hermes in horror. "What is this place?"  
"The Bog of Despair. I didn't want to go through here, but the Treants aren't known for treating guests well either- and as long as we travel by day, we'll be fine. I wouldn't throw any more rocks, though." Hermes eyed Pirko, who looked at the ground in emberassment.  
"You didn't answer my question." Alisha said cautiously as Hermes looked over his shoulder uneasily.  
"If we keep going, it won't matter."  
"Tell me!" Alisha insisted, her tone frustrated. Hermes stopped and let out a deep sigh.  
"They come to life at night, and will most likely try to kill us."  
Silence settled over the group as everyone heard Hermes, staring down at the water around them. A small squeak sounded from Que and everyone started walking after Hermes, much more quickly than their pace had been before.

"I'm so glad to be out of there." Alisha sighed. She had hated seeing those faces constantly just under the water- it really creeped her out.  
"I'm sorry it scared you so much, but it was the only way to go." Hermes said as he started to build a fire, encouraging the small embers into a flame.  
"It's fine." Alisha sighed. "How long will I have to stay here, though?" She looked up at Hermes, who glanced to her out of the side of his eyes before looking back to the fire.  
"You are only obligated as long as the war is on. Once the fighting stops you are free to do as you will- and you can go back to the Otherworld, if you wish." He sounded neutral- as if he was trying not to let his emotions get out in his voice.  
Alisha squirmed slightly on the damp grass below her uneasily, knowing that the war would probably take a while. Was her family already looking for her?  
"Here's some grub for 'ya." Alisha looked down at the plate that appeared in front of her and followed the arm up to see Pirko holding it out, looking elsewhere as if trying to be distracted."The ferret went and found some veggies." He looked down at the food and wrinkled his nose in disgust before looking down at Alisha.  
"Thank you, Pirko." She said in relief, and took the plate. Her stomach had been growling for hours- she felt as if she were starving.  
"You're welcome." he muttered, and looked over to Hermes. "So where are we going next?"  
"The jungle isn't too far from here- we'll cross the plains and get there in one, maybe two day's walk if we have a good pace."  
"Let me guess- the plains of despair- or sorrow? Or is it the plains of nasty gunk that gets stuck to your socks?" Alisha said sarcastically. Hermes and Pirko only glanced at each other and smirked wryly.  
"You will see." Hermes said simply, and got up to go check on those who were wounded from the ambush. Pirko watched in a slight panic as Hermes left, looking down at Alisha with wide eyes.  
"Uh… I'll go get you more food." He stammered and quickly walked away to find the ferret.  
Alisha raised an eyebrow curiously, but otherwise decided to ignore the strange reaction. She watched as Que and Gale approached, watching Pirko with amusement and ignoring his glares.  
"Looks like the lion's taking a liking to you." Gale laughed. "He doesn't do that for many people, so you should be flattered."  
"I suppose so." Alisha said, sticking some of the stalks of something or ever and chewing it only to have its bitter taste make her eyes water.  
"Yeah I didn't like that stuff either." Que stuck her tongue out in disgust."I don't know what Griffix was thinking."  
"It's edible- that's what he was looking for." Gale shrugged. She looked up at the stars appearing above in the dark green sky as the sun started to set, and her eyebrows furrowed as she spotted something strange.  
"There's some bird circling us." She squinted her eyes to see it better and made out an oddly familiar, yet different shape."Shadow scout! It's a shadow scout!" She yelled, grabbing Alisha by the wrist and dragging her stumbling into the shadow under a tree. They watched as a cloth fluttered down on the wind, the bright red cotton falling on the tree branches above where Alisha was standing. Everyone in the camp froze as a strange noise started sounding from the bog they had just gotten through. Suddenly a shadow warrior appeared from the trees, his sword drawn as he advanced toward the group. The shadow suddenly went down as a woman jumped between him and Alisha, landing a hard kick square into his stomach, sending him to the ground with a gasp and wheeze as the air was knocked out of him.  
"Get her to safety!" The female maned wolf yelled, catching the shadow's sword by the pummel and looking at it in interest before tossing it far into the forest behind her.  
Gale nodded and grabbed Alisha's wrist again, taking her by the hip and running until she could take to the air. She was able to ascend much more quickly than Hermes had, which made Alisha's head spin as Gale brought her higher and higher, looking down to see a swarm of shadow warriors suddenly bursting from the trees, and the maned wolf that had protected her retreating back with the others again.  
"Ah, an albino. You don't see those too often." A voice said from above Gale. She looked up with wide eyes at the shadow eagle above her and spread her wings wide, going higher than she thought the eagle would be able to go. She watched with horror as the eagle easily ascended to her height, circled around and above her until he was situated above her. He suddenly folded his wings, landing on top of her and digging the barbs on his wrists into her wings, making Gale cry out in pain.  
"Know this- bat. The name of the shadow that killed you is Kornaya. I doubt you'll be able to find me again." He sneered before pounding his magic into her, making the skin around the barb punctures in her white wings suddenly blacken as tendrils of magic started rushing into her.  
"Get off her!" Alisha yelled, swinging one of his arms and catching the eagle by one of his wings, ripping feathers off and swinging her leg to try and hit him. She connected- very hard- and he whimpered as she realized she had kicked his groin about as hard as she could. The eagle fell off Gale's back and dropped quite a ways before he remembered to open his wings and turn around, gliding down to the ground among the shadow warriors.  
"Are you alright?" Alisha looked over to Gale, who was grimacing in pain. The black in her otherwise white wings wasn't spreading any further, but she had two large holes in her wings that was probably making it hard to fly.  
"Here- hand her to me and we'll get you down." A calming male voice said, and Gale opened her eyes to see a man with large black wings and black hair. She faltered for a minute, flapping away when she thought it was another shadow attacking her. He just sighed and stayed where he was, showing he wasn't going to attack her. "If you stay aloft for too long, the magic will start to spread. We need to get you to Que."  
Gale stared at him for a minute before nodding and drifting closer to him more cautiously, holding Alisha to her hip as she struggled to keep them both up.  
"Don't worry. My name is Kandor- I've been in the settlement for only a little while, which is probably why you don't remember me." He said, looking at her in concern.  
"You have green eyes." Gale rasped in relief before falling into his open arms along with Alisha, who oofed against Kandor's chest.  
"Oh crap." Kandor gasped at all the weight, flapping his wings furiously to try and keep them up. He managed to glance down before he started to quickly descend, managing to direct them away from the battle going on before landing to the ground with both girls on top of him.  
"You alright?" he wheezed, looking up to both of them.  
"I'm fine." Alisha said, but looked to Gale as she lay limply against Kandor. He swore sharply and scrambled from underneath them, letting Alisha stand on her own as he picked Gale up, carrying him quickly over to Que, who was already healing some of those who had fallen.  
Alisha stood and watched those fight with a mixture of fear and horror. There were dead on the ground on both sides- Hermes and Pirko were at the head of the fighting along with the maned wolf that had helped them earlier.  
"Stay back!" Hermes yelled over his shoulder, spotting her among the trees behind him. Pirko looked behind him as well, and growled before he kept fighting the shadow advancing toward them. He suddenly froze, looking at one of the shadows that had come up to replace a fallen warrior. He looked… like Pirko.  
"MATCHING!" Hermes yelled, dragging Pirko away as the other shadows dragged the shadow away. Alisha watched with wonder as Pirko started glowing, his eyes wide as he lay motionless on the ground except for the rise and fall of his chest for breathing. She ignored Hermes' order and quickly jogged over to Pirko as he lay on the ground, putting a hand to his forehead and feeling his skin far too hot. What was happening to him? He suddenly cried out in pain as the glow flared around him, knocking Alisha to her feet as the shadow over in the other side let out a terrifying scream. The glow suddenly faded and Pirko stood up, looking at her with angry eyes.  
"You were supposed to stay back." he growled. "You could get killed up here."  
"W-wait, what just happened?" She looked over him, but seeing he was generally looking fine except for a few scrapes.  
"Later- go back with Que." He said, standing and rejoining Hermes in fighting. Hermes glanced to him in relief and smiled, continuing his fighting.  
Alisha watched as Hermes narrowly avoided getting sliced with a sword and nodded quickly, running back to where Que was still healing Gale.


	5. Chapter 5

Hermes glanced over his shoulder, relieved when he saw Alisha was running away toward where Que was healing those who had already gotten hurt. He turned his attention back to the shadow he was fighting- a particularly angry lion who was brandishing his long sword and metal shield at him. Hermes raised his hands and made an intricate motion until vines sprung from the ground at his feet, wrapping around his ankles and then pulling back down until the shadow had his legs up to his knees completely underground, not able to get out without help. Hermes looked down at the shadow and smiled, but faltered when he looked at his reflection in the metal of the shield the shadow was holding.  
"Watch it!" Pirko yelled beside him, kicking away another shadow that had raised its weapon to attack Hermes.  
Hermes shook his head out of his shock and went back to fighting, defending against another swing of a sword by bringing up more vines in front of him, the metal cutting through the plants instead of him.

"Is she going to be okay?" Alisha looked at the blackened leathery skin on Gale's wings as she gasped for breath through the pain.  
"She'll be fine- I'm just glad he didn't put any more of this nasty magic into her." Que said grimly as she continued to do her work, moving her hands over the affected area as a purple glow appeared around her hands. Kandor only watched with concern, but his eyes showed a deep worry in them. Alisha glanced over to him and down to Gale, who was still unconscious. Que saw her looking between them and only smiled knowingly, looking back over her shoulder to Kandor.  
"I think you should go back and help with the fighting. You'll be no help just standing there worrying about Gale."  
Kandor nodded quickly and started walking away, but faltered, turning back around. "Take care of Andrea."  
Que smirked wryly and nodded, continuing her healing as Alisha smiled as well.

"They're starting to move back." Hermes said to Pirko, who was still fighting with another shadow, a pile of bodies starting to accumulate in front of him. Most of them were just unconscious.  
"it's about time." Pirko growled- his hair was sticking to his forehead from the sweat dripping down his face.  
A low moan behind the shadows made everyone falter for a second. That sound was followed by another low moan, and another until it sounded like hundreds of people were behind the shadows, and growing louder.  
Hermes froze in horror as he spotted dark masses of people coming from the bog behind the shadows.  
"RUN!" He yelled, quickly turning around and running. Pirko started turning around, grabbing the maned wolf on his other side as she continued fighting, oblivious of what was going on. The group ran back toward where Que was still healing Gale.  
"Everyone who can fly take as many people as you can carry." Hermes said quickly, grabbing both Alisha and Que by the waist and situating them so that their weight was distributed evenly. Kandor ran over to Gale and picked her up Gently, already running ahead of the rest to leap into the air. Thankful they had enough flyers in the group, Hermes was the last to run off the ground as terror-ridden screams started sounding behind them as the shadows fought off their new enemy. Hermes risked a look over his shoulder and instantly wished that he hadn't- the dead were tearing through the forces of those who had attacked them- literally. She looked down at the girls he was carrying as they stared at the scene as well, Que simply silent but Alisha making a low moan and gripping his shirt, burying her face in his feathered hair to get away from the sight.

They flew for what seemed like hours- Alisha noticed that Hermes was starting to gasp with the effort to keep them in the air- but the only thing below them was forest that was getting thicker and thicker as they went.  
"We're going to have to land soon." Hermes said, his voice raspy from breathing so hard. "Or else we'll fall."  
Alisha nodded hastily, looking below them with Que, but only seeing trees for miles and miles around.  
"Oh- there- there's a lake or something over there." Que pointed toward the east, and Hermes sighed in relief, turning that way and leading the rest of them down toward the water. He grunted with effort as he sped the beating of his wings as they descended, but gasped in pain as one of them suddenly cramped.  
"Too fast- too fast too fast." he chanted between his teeth as Alisha and Que tightened their grips on him, the water looming larger and larger below them until they splashed into the water as Hermes fell. They sunk quite a ways until they started floating back up towards the surface, splashing above the water as they swum in the large lake, the other birds who were carrying people splashing down into the water around them.  
"No!" A yell sounded, and another splash, along with thrashing.  
"Calm down." Pirko growled, grabbing the female maned wolf by the waist and swimming with her to the shore. The rest of the group followed, Kandor carrying Gale out of the water and looking miserable with his feathers soaked. Hermes trudged up to the bank, his red, yellow and blue wings dragging behind him from their weight.  
"At least its warm." he said in frustration, his hair clinging to his face.  
"So says you." Que grumbled, ringing out her hair before shaking her rabbit ears around, spraying water around her.  
"Thank you." The maned wolf looked up at Pirko, who merely shrugged.  
"No problem. It's not like I was going to let you drown or something." He said, looking at the lake and seeing no one else there. Everyone was safely on shore.  
"My name is Arya. Do you have any idea where we're going?"  
"The Jungle." Pirko sighed. He didn't much like the idea of going into such a dark and dangerous place.  
"Oh." Arya said, her ears flipping back against her head- revealing her fear of the idea.  
"Don't worry, Hermes is a vineweaver. We'll be fine." Pirko groaned as he stood, his muscles sore from so much fighting.  
"We're not very far now." Hermes said, shaking his hair the best he could and not daring to wring out the rest- he'd have to spend hours preening if he did.  
"Good." Alisha said, sounding as miserable as she looked- she was soaking wet, and her clothes were sticking to her as if glued to her skin. Her red hair was hanging around her face in strings, and her green eyes were bright with annoyance. "Because my hair is going to look ridiculous when it dries after this."  
"At least you won't look like a big cotton ball." Que said in frustration, trying to get her ears as dry as possible before they started poofing up.  
"Shouldn't we take a rest? I don't know about you, but my wings feel like they're going to fall off." A hawk gasped, her wings drooping behind her so that her feathers dusted the forest floor around her.  
"That's probably a good idea." Hermes sighed, his own wings feeling no better.

After a few small fires were made, they re-bandaged the wounded and settled down for a meal. Alisha looked at Pirko across the fire as Hermes sat beside her, handing her some fruit Griffix had found in the forest again.  
"So, you never told me what happened earlier." Alisha said quietly, wondering if it was something taboo to talk about. Pirko blinked in surprise for a bit and put down his plate of food uneasily.  
"That was my shadow- and I won." He shrugged.  
"Won?" She looked to Hermes in confusion, who smiled slightly at her curiosity.  
"When someone of our race meets their shadow, their souls have to fight. The light fights the darkness, and whoever wins is the one that lives."  
"Wait- so you fought your souls, and you won so the other guy died?" Alisha gasped.  
"Yep." Pirko nodded. "Probably not a good way to go- I don't know what happens to make you die. You probably just lose your soul."  
Alisha made a small squeaking sound in horror, involuntarily putting her hand to her neck in defense.  
"You don't have to worry about it." Hermes chuckled, "You're from the Otherworld, and you don't have a shadow- remember?" He smiled down at her and Alisha nodded uneasily before looking down at her food and eating it slowly as she thought.


	6. Chapter 6

Later that night, Alisha walked back over to the campfire after checking up on how Gale was doing. Her back was looking much better- the strange black tendrils that had been beneath her skin were starting to fade thanks to Que's healing skills. She looked down at the small campfire and noticed with confusion that Hermes wasn't there- hadn't he said he'd be there when she got back to eat dinner?  
Alisha looked around curiously, knowing he could handle himself if he had gone into the forest- after all, he was from this area. She spotted him next to the lake, looking into the water with a strange expression of thoughtful confusion as he looked into the water. Alisha looked back to the others, but no one had noticed he was gone either- everyone was busy doing their own thing.  
She walked over to him, being sure to keep quiet as he muttered something to himself, touching his face and turning his head as if trying to see himself better. She walked next to him and kneeled down, making him freeze in surprise, the feathers on his wings and head puffing a bit before settling down when he saw it was Alisha.  
"What's wrong?" Alisha said, looking down at his reflection in the water, but seeing nothing to be concerned about.  
"Nothing." Hermes muttered, leaning away from the water, but still looking uneasy.  
"Don't' lie. Really- what's wrong? You look really worried."  
Hermes watched her for a minute, trying to decide whether he should tell her or not, but finally sighed submissively.  
"I went to your world a long time ago. I hadn't realized how long I was there until I saw myself in a shield while fighting. I've gotten… older." Hermes looked at the ground, looking frustrated. "I was about your age when I went- and obviously I didn't know what my true self looked like while I was a bird. It's… strange." He ran a hand through his feathered hair and sighed. "It's as if I don't even known myself anymore."  
Alisha nodded thoughtfully. So he had been only 18 when he went to Earth, so that meant he was at least 20 now. How long had he been there?  
"Well it's not as if you look bad or anything." Alisha glanced up to him, her cheeks slightly reddened. "You look nice- I wouldn't worry about it."  
Hermes blinked in surprise and nodded, looking down at the ground with soft eyes. "So then… you think I should just move on?"  
"Well what else are you going to do?" Alisha bumped his arm teasingly with her fist. "I'm not going to let you wallow in pity if that's what you're thinking."  
Hermes smiled wryly and nodded, glancing up to her before clearing his throat nervously to breath the uneasy silence between them. "Right, well I suppose it's time for you to eat then. We'll see what they gathered this time." Hermes stood up, holding out a hand to help her up as well. She smiled up at him and took his hand, squealing in surprise when he hoisted her up so easily to her feet. She laughed and dusted the dirt off her shirt, noticing with disgust how much grime had gotten on her clothes since she had come into this world.  
"We'll get you a new outfit once we're in the city I come from." Hermes chuckled at her grimace as she patted her shoulder, dust flying off the fabric.  
"Good." Alisha wrinkled her nose to hold back a sneeze and followed him back to the camp.

"She's asleep- why are you so worried? It's dark- there's no one watching." a small voice cut through the darkness as everyone slept on the forest floor around the dying embers of their fires.  
"Easy for you to say! Why don't you do this?!" Another voice answered back, trying to be quiet.  
"…. Because you're bigger than me!"  
"And he's hundreds of times bigger than me!" The small voice stopped cold as Hermes moved in his sleep, a few feet away from Althea who was sleeping soundly as well.  
"We have to talk to her! You heard what Snipper said- he'll eat us if we don't!"  
"He wouldn't dare eat us. Fine, just stay there and don't get squished."  
A small mouse ran up Alisha's arm, making her chuckle in her sleep but otherwise not move. The mouse ran up her top before stopping on her chest, looking up at her in fear before shaking his head to control himself. He was different than most mice- his tail was longer and his body was short and squat so that he looked much like a kangaroo mouse.  
"Hello, human!" He said, in a normal talking voice. However- the sound only made Alisha grumble and stay asleep. The mouse snorted in frustration and put his paws up to his snout to shout louder.  
"HELLO HUMAN!" He yelled, breathing heavily from yelling and hoping she would hear him. Alisha stirred and blinked her eyes open slowly, looking around to see who had talked to her and seeing the small mouse waving at her on her chest.  
Alisha's scream cut through the darkness of the night as she sat up, making Hermes sit up as well, looking around for whatever danger had woken her up.  
"Get it off, get it off, get it off!" Alisha cringed as the mouse held on for his life to her shirt, swinging as she waved her arms around.  
"Please stop! I didn't mean to scare you!" The mouse shouted, yelling as he flew off when he lost his drip, shouting when he started falling toward the ground. Hermes caught him in his open palm and brought the mouse up to his face, chuckling when he saw the mouse gasp for air, relieved.  
"Thank you, tall one." He sighed as he held his tail nervously. "Really, we don't mean to scare the human. We were sent here to greet her."  
"Don't worry Alisha, it's just a fauna." Hermes held out the mouse to Alisha, who blinked in surprise and moved closer to look at the mouse as well.  
"You talk?" She said in amazement. The mouse nodded his head, standing on his back legs to see her better.  
"I am Bunji, and my brother is-" Bunji looked down at the ground from Hermes hand and scoffed in disbelief when he saw that his brother had run off. "Well, no matter. Snipper sent me to greet you and welcome you to our forest. He wishes to meet you."  
"Snipper?" Alisha looked to Hermes curiously, who shrugged.  
"Yes- Snipper, who is the leader of the fox. They are the ones who rule our forest."  
"What about bears? I would think they'd rule instead." Alisha said thoughtfully, and looked down in surprise when the mouse let out a squeaking laughter.  
"No no, the fox are much smarter than the bears. There was a time when the bears ruled, but that is long passed." The mouse looked over to Hermes, turning his way on his hind feet. "And who are you to sleep so close to the human?" The mouse snickered.  
Hermes blushed and suddenly looked serious. "I'm her protector- I'm bringing her to gather those of our kingdom so that we can fight the shadow."  
"Ah yes, the big dark ones. They were through here a short time ago, but they didn't make it very far." The mouse laughed again. "Unlike you, they started tearing down things. The trees don't like that much- and neither do the dryads."  
"I bet not." Hermes said sarcastically while Alisha gasped in shock.  
"There are dryads here?"  
"Of course! You're in a forest, you know." The mouse scoffed. He turned back to Hermes. "She hasn't been here long, has she?"  
"No, but she is learning quickly." Hermes glanced up at Alisha before looking back down at the mouse. "Would your leader.. Snipper, was it? Be willing to wait until tomorrow to meet us?"  
"But of course! You will meet him, then?" The mouse said happily.  
"I don't see why not." Alisha shrugged. "As long as no one tries to take a bite out of me." She smiled.  
"That is easily arranged." The mouse said happily, running up Hermes' arm and down his back to jump back down to the ground.  
"I will tell Snipper to meet you tomorrow morning. I will see you then!" Bunji yelled so they would hear him and scampered through the grass back into the forest.  
Hermes watched him leave, turning to Alisha once he was out of sight.  
"Just be careful with the fauna, Alisha. Though they're small, they have a lot of magic in them. More than anyone of my kind- but since they're asking to meet you, I'm sure they'll be friendly." Hermes laughed back down on the ground.  
"I'm never going to be able to get back to sleep." He grumbled, turning onto his side so that his wings weren't crushed beneath them, some of the feathers brushing against Alisha's arm. She smiled and settled down again as well, resting her head on her arms and she thought about what the meeting the next day would be like- a group of talking animals… what a strange world.


	7. Chapter 7

Hermes woke up drowsily, grumbling to himself about fauna and how they always seemed to want to wake people up in the middle of the night. He felt something move against his back and froze, turning his head slowly until he saw Alisha nestled underneath his wings, using them like a blanket in the cold forest night. He stayed still for a moment, not knowing what to do- should he pretend to stay asleep? He decided to turn around, resettling one of his wings over her so that she stayed warm. He watched her for a bit, wondering if he had been right to bring her into this world or not. She looked so frail while she slept- as if one wrong move would break her into a million pieces. Would she really be able to fight this war? He cautiously moved a hand out and moved away a few locks of hair from her face to reveal the mark on her cheek, pausing to make sure she didn't wake up before continuing to move the hair from her face. The swirling mark that ran from her cheek bone down to her chin was several shades darker than the skin around it, looking like it almost faded back into her normal pale color. She made a restless sound and settled herself deeper among the feathers of his wings, making Hermes smile softly as she whispered something in her sleep. He looked up to see the sun rising and knew that the fauna would be expecting them soon.  
Hermes yawned and rolled away from Alisha, taking his wing with him and leaving Alisha waking up at the sudden absence of warmth. She felt something run up her leg and let out a yell of surprise, making Hermes sit up suddenly and sighing in frustration when he saw Bunji settle once again on Alisha's chest.  
"Hello, human! I am here to bring you to see Snipper!" The mouse said happily, looking over at Hermes before twitching his tail and looking back to Alisha. "You will come now, yes?"  
"Be patient." Hermes said, his voice raspy from sleep. He shook his head, letting his feathered hair fly around his face before they suddenly poofed and resettled in a neater looking fashion. "She has to get ready, first."  
"Yeah- I have to comb my hair and-" Alisha's eyes suddenly got wide. "I don't have a comb! How will I get ready? I don't even have a toothbrush!" She looked around in a panic, letting the mouse jump onto her hand before she sat up.  
"Just run your hand through your hair. Why do you need a comb?"  
"No no no! My hair doesn't do that- it gets… messier." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. She wasn't about to tell him that if she did just run her hands through her hair it would poof up into a giant red tangle.  
"What is a comb?" the mouse said eagerly, hoping he could speed up the process of getting them to the fox.  
"It's a long stick with lots of teeth out of it that undoes tangles." Alisha said to the mouse curiously, who nodded and scampered off towards the forest.  
"I doubt he'll find anything." Hermes muttered and watched her for a minute before she tilted her head curiously, making him look away in embarrassment.  
"I'm worried that the fauna will see you and think of a meal." He muttered, standing and puffed up his feathers as he stretched, his great wings spreading to their maximum span before folding back against his back.  
"I'm sure I'll be fine." Alisha chuckled in amusement at Hermes' concern, but couldn't help herself from being a little afraid of that herself- after all there were going to be predators among the others they were going to meet, right?  
She looked down as something bumped into her ankle and saw a few mice carrying a thin stick with many branches coming off it, all of them stripped of their leaves and bark. It looked… like a naturally made comb.  
"Where did you find that?" Alisha marveled as she took the comb, holding out her other hand for the mice to jump in. Only Bunji jumped up into her palm, the other mice running back toward the forest.  
"The forest has many things in it- you just have to look." The mouse said proudly.  
"So are you and Hermes going to be the only ones that go?" Pirko said as he walked over, looking to Hermes with a wary expression. He didn't like the idea of just them going into a pack of wild animals.  
"I'm sure we'll be fine. The fauna won't hurt us." Hermes said confidently, looking down as something ran across his foot.  
"Sssnippers is waiting, Bunji." A snake curled upon itself as it reared, looking up at Alisha curiously before turning to Hermes. "You are coming as well?" He hissed, his tongue flicking out.  
"Yes, I'm going too. Pirko, did you want to come or-" Hermes looked to Pirko, who was staring with wide eyes at the large snake just a foot away from him, his rust colored lion ears flat against his head in fear.  
"Uh… I think I'm fine. Just be careful." He said, watching the snake as he backed up slowly before turning around and walking stiffly back toward the others.  
"What'sssss hisss problem?" The snake watched Pirko leave, tilting its head in confusion.  
"He probably doesn't like snakes." Alisha chuckled.  
The snake let out a long hiss before looking up at Bunji in Alisha's hand, who squeaked with fear and shook. "Jusssst bring them quickly. Ssssnippersss seems anxiousss." The snake nodded a goodbye to Hermes and Alisha before slithering back toward the forest.  
"I really do not like snakes either- they look at me as if I'm their lunch." Bunji said after the snake was gone, sighing in relief. Alisha smiled and allowed Bunji to jump to the ground from her hand before she started combing her hair.

"Welcome, human of the Otherworld." A white wolf greeted her happily at the opening into a large clearing, where nearly a hundred animals of every shape and size had gathered. "Snippers is waiting- and he is happy you have agreed to this meeting. He wishes you to meet our spirit." The wolf bowed again as he moved aside for her and Hermes to walk into the middle of the gathered animals, looking around curiously at the eyes staring at them- whispers sounding out around them.  
A large bushy-tailed fox jumped onto a fallen log, causing the entire clearing to suddenly fall into silence.  
"Welcome to our forest. We are the Northern fauna of these lands- and we wish to extend our greeting to you." The fox smiled, raising a paw. Alisha smiled in relief at the friendly greeting and nodded.  
"I'm glad you invited me- I hadn't known there were so many creatures in these forests- and in truth I haven't seen many of your kind in my world." She looked at those around her curiously, her eyes stopping at a great elk standing proud among the other deer.  
"I am glad you approve." The fox said happily before jumping down from the log and walking briskly over to her. He stopped a few feet away from her and sat again. "I wish for you to meet our spirit- he told our kind long ago that if a human came through our forest we were to have you stop and meet him."  
Alisha nodded cautiously, looking around at the very normal-looking animals around her. Were any of them a spirit of a forest? They didn't look at all… spiritual.  
"Thank you for the introduction, king fox." A deep voice sounded from behind her- a great creature coming through the brush behind the animals, who hurriedly got out of the way as talons walked into the clearing, followed by a set of great lion paws. Alisha stood frozen with shock as she stared at the griffin in front of her, the majestic creature looking back with amazingly intelligent eyes as he looked from her to Hermes.  
"You are with the human?" The griffin asked, his eagle head tilting in a very bird-like manner.  
"Erm- yes." Hermes said, obviously amazed by the sight as well.  
"Very well." The griffin nodded before looking back to Alisha. "I have waited a long time to talk with you, human. Times have darkened since we were cast from your world. Shadows that were once contained have now grown longer and stronger as time has passed. I have heard you are fighting against your own shadows, Soul Binder?" The griffin looked to Hermes curiously.  
"Soul Binder?" Hermes said in confusion.  
"Well yes- that is the name for your kind, after all." The griffin suddenly let out a growl of realization. "I see. Your kind has forgotten your identity in its fight. Well then we have much to discuss." The griffin sighed and sat down, looking at the animals around him. "My forest is doing well still- that is good. I have to admit I have not seen its inhabitants as of late. I am also fighting your kind- they wish to enter our forests and destroy the creatures and trees for their wars." The griffin let out an angry hiss, his feathers ruffling in frustration before he calmed. "But that is of no matter for now. First we must discuss what is ahead of you, young human."  
"Oh- uh, my name is Alisha." She said, just nodding a hello because she figured the griffin couldn't shake hands.  
The griffin trilled happily and nodded back. "My name is Brushfeather. I have lived in these parts for over 400 years."  
"How old are you?" Alisha gaped in amazement.  
The griffin looked up thoughtfully. "I do not remember. I was in your world when I was only a griffawn, so I am not sure how old I am exactly."  
"You lived in the Otherworld?" Hermes gasped.  
"But of course. Many mystics have lived in the Otherworld before being forced here." The griffin said in amusement before shaking his head. "But that is not why I requested your audience. Alisha, there are many creatures in these lands-and not all of them will want to help you. I have ties with many other mystics, and will help you where I can, but there are others that will not be able to hear from me. I request that you tell them of your intention, and the impact the shadows are causing on the rest of the world. Most will join your cause, I am sure." The griffin said confidently, pausing thoughtfully before continuing. "But there are others who you should not by any means approach. Among those are the Drigans. They are _not_ dragons, you see. Dragons are like your bird friend here- creatures of light. Drigans are creatures of darkness and should not be trusted."  
"How can you tell between them?" Alisha said in confusion. She could hardly tell between their names…  
"You will easily be able to tell the difference. Where is your next destination?" The griffin looked toward Hermes.  
"The jungles of the South." Hermes replied.  
"Ah, good. You should seek out the dragon Sinto there- he will be able to guide you to where to find more help for your journey." The griffin stood. "Now Macaw, about your race- I cannot tell you any more than this: You will go through great hardships in this battle against your darkness. Just remember the name of your race, and what it stands for. What is your name?"  
"Hermes- but my given name is Lasons." Hermes glanced toward Alisha, who looked up at him in surprise at his true name.  
"Lasons, hmmm?" The griffin looked up thoughtfully, and turned suddenly serious. "My word of advice to you, Hermes." The griffin looked back down at him. "Remember who you are, and what you are protecting. Things are always more than what they seem." The griffin sighed and looked over to the animals around him. "I'm afraid I have many people to talk to- so I cannot stay any longer." He looked back to Alisha and moved forward, sitting down in front of her and putting a talon gently on her shoulder. "Farewell, Alisha- and good luck to you. I am sure you will make a good queen." The griffin cooed happily and nodded to Hermes before turning around and walking back out of the forest.  
"Interesting." Hermes muttered and looked to the animals around them. "Was there anything else you wanted?"  
The fox shook his head, looking up to the Macaw. "Just to wish you a safe journey." The fox bowed, causing the rest of the animals to bow around him.  
"Your majesty, if I may make a request?" Bunji walked forward cautiously to the fox.  
"Of course, little one." The fox looked down at the mouse.  
"I wish to go with them. They may need help getting out of these forests." The mouse put his small paws together while he stood on his hind legs, nervous that the fox would catch his excuse to go with them.  
The fox smiled and looked up to Hermes and Alisha.  
"You would be alright with him going with you?"  
"Of course." Alisha smiled, kneeling down next to Bunji and opening her palm for him to jump onto. The mouse squeaked happily and ran up her arm, sitting on her shoulder proudly.  
"Take care of him, Alisha. The fauna wish you well." The fox nodded as Hermes and Alisha walked out of the clearing again to head back to the others and continue their way toward the jungles.


	8. Chapter 8

"So we're called soul binders, huh?" Pirko scoffed in disbelief. "No idea why we're called that."  
"Well what happens when you find your shadow again- wasn't it that you absorb their soul? Maybe that's what the name is about." Alisha shrugged as Bunji sat on her head, his paws gripping her hair for support as they walked through the vines and leaves of the jungle, following Hermes.  
"I'm thinking that's most likely. Anything else just seems strange." Hermes said, moving a branch away and letting out a cry of triumph as he saw a bustling city below them, in a low valley clearing in the middle of the jungle. "We're here!"  
"Leave it to the birds to make a city in the middle of the jungle." Pirko muttered, wiping a stray vine off his shoulder in disgust.  
"_Finally_, we're there!" Que gasped for air, sweat beading on her forehead. "This place is horrifyingly hot. Please tell me it's cooler down there."  
"I think so- I don't really remember." Hermes said uneasily, and started walking down the hill toward the city.  
Alisha watched in amazement at the hundreds of people walking through the trails leading between huts in the town, some of them more extravagant and complex than others. Several shadows passed over them, turning mid-flight to see who was walking toward the village and started waving their arms in excitement when they saw Hermes. They nudged the other person flying, who looked back as well and yelled, quickly landing to the ground in the middle of the city. The first flier glided over to them, landing softly in front of Hermes with a wide grin.  
"Lasons! It's been a while!" He said, looking in curiosity at Alisha before his eyes widened. "Wait- she's a human! So you really did go there?"  
Hermes looked at the bird in frustration. "I'm sorry… who are you?" He said in embarrassment.  
The teenager only laughed, his yellow feathered hair falling into his face so that he had to move it back again. "I'm Ichi!"  
"ICHI?!" Hermes grinned in excitement, shaking wrists with him. "Gods you've grown- last I saw you, you were just a kid."  
"Yeah well, kids grow up." Ichi rolled his eyes. He glanced to Alisha and back to Hermes again. "So what was the Otherworld like? Was it everything they said it was?"  
"Later- for now I'd like to get some rest. I've had a long trip." Hermes looked down at Alisha, whose face was blushed red from walking all day. She obviously wasn't used to this much traveling.  
"Oh, of course." Ichi chuckled, and turned around to lead them into the city, his yellow and black wings folding against his back.  
"What kind of bird is he?" Alisha whispered to Hermes, trying not to be offensive to Ichi."  
"He's a golden finch. They're known for their agility, which is probably why he was scouting."  
"I see." Alisha nodded. Now that she thought about it, the vibrant yellow and black of the finch did match the patterns on his wings and hair.  
"OH!" Ichi turned around suddenly. "I almost forgot- Arozo told me that if you came here, he wanted you to talk with Neena."  
"The healer?" Hermes said in confusion, but nodded cautiously. "Did he say what it was about?"  
"Well, no… he's been pretty busy with something lately- him and Neena both. All I know is that a shadow was captured recently. He's locked up in the prison hut."  
"What's with birds and huts?" Pirko muttered, far away enough behind Hermes and Ichi that they didn't hear.  
"I don't know, maybe it's a nest or something to them." Gale shrugged.  
"Actually… you're right." Kandor smiled to Gale, who couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.

In the avian city, the crowd that filled the streets parted as Hermes and the group walked along the path toward one of the largest huts. Ichi walked into the hut, opening the flap of leather to let the others pass through. Bright yellow eyes shone through the darkness of the hut, until Ichi lit one of the many candles sitting on a holder nearby. The small light revealed a large figure at the other side of the hut, sitting among blankets and papers. He looked at Alisha with interested eyes before smiling to Hermes.  
"Lasons- it is good to see you are safe." The figure stood, his massive brown wings nearly touching the top of the hut as he stood- they were much larger compared to his body than either Ichi or Hermes' wings. His short feathered hair was cropped to his ears, so that a few feathers stood up among them- it was quite obvious that he was supposed to be a great horned owl.  
"It's good to see you too, Arozo. Now what was it that you wanted me to talk to Neena about?"  
Azoro's smile quickly fell into a frown. "As I'm sure Ichi as told you, we have captured a shadow who was traveling near our camp. He said he was looking for us."  
"No doubt." Hermes scoffed. Many shadows had tried to find the avian camp beneath the canopy of the jungle around it, but it's remained hidden.  
"Well, there was another person with him- one I think you'd be interested in meeting. Neena is currently taking care of her, you will find her in the healing hut." The owl motioned to the tent across the path, in which a few birds were already sitting. A blue winged woman was running back and forth between them, looking very ragged. Hermes nodded and they quickly walked over to the hut, Que walking forward with a suddenly serious face when she saw the strange red marks on a child's face, who was sitting on a small wooden bench with tears in his eyes.  
"Do you need help?" the rabbit looked up to the bird, who looked up in surprise and smiled warmly.  
"That would be wonderful." She said in relief, and continued her work. With their combined skills, they quickly got through the waiting birds, and made sure no one else was waiting before continuing with their conversation.  
"So, what can I- OH!" The bird looked at Hermes and grinned. "Lasons! I'm glad you're finally here." Neena smiled sweetly. "She's been waiting for a long time to get to see you again."  
"Who?" Hermes said in confusion, starting to get frustrated. Why was no one willing to tell him who was waiting for him?  
"Lili, would you come out here, please? And bring the pad- there's someone you'd love to see." Neena called to a curtain, separating the hut into two rooms. The curtain parted and a bird peeked through the gap to see who it was, her scruffy yellow, blue and red feathered hair falling around her shoulders.  
"Lili?" Hermes gasped, his eyes wide. "But…"  
The girl gasped in surprise and ran over to Hermes, wrapping her arms around her waist tightly, hugging him as tears started rolling down her cheeks. Hermes looked down in shock, and returned the hug, setting his chin on top of her head with a soft smile.  
"So… who is this?" Pirko looked at the girl in confusion.  
"This is my sister- Lili." Hermes said, his voice raspy from emotion. "I thought she was dead." He turned back to her, grinning happily. "So where have you been, Lili? I thought they had killed you along with mom and dad. I'm sorry I haven't been around to take care of you."  
Lili smiled sweetly, making Hermes frown suddenly at the sight of the large gashing scar on the side of her face. He reached out and ran a finger along it in concern, which only made her look away.  
"Answer your brother, dear. I'm sure he's very confused." Neera said softly, a hint of sadness to her voice. Lili nodded and took out a pad of paper she had been carrying at a pouch by her side, and a stick of graphite to write with.  
'They captured me and took me away.' it read when she held it up to Hermes.  
"Where did they take you?" Hermes asked, his feathers starting to raise in anger.  
'To a place where they were holding Irtasu- but I got back, and now I'm safe.'  
"Then… why aren't you talking?" Hermes said, looking at his sister in concern. Come to think of it, he hadn't heard a single noise from her…  
'They took my voice' the paper wrote, the letters sloppy from a shaking hand as tears started to form in Lili's eyes.  
"How?" Hermes whispered in horror. Lili gulped uneasily and unwrapped the scarf that had been tied around her neck- revealing a deep scar across her neck.  
Hermes stood silent for a minute, his fists clenched in anger as the vines beneath his feet started to twist and turn, growing thorns and barbs as they slithered among themselves. His blue eyes blazed when he looked up and turned around, exiting the tent. Alisha glanced at Lili in surprise before following Hermes out of the tent.

Hermes pushed away the guards to the prison hut, raising his hand so that the molded vine door simply shriveled in front of him. He strode quickly over to the shadow lying on the ground inside, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and hoisting him to his feet.  
"What did you do to my sister?!" He yelled, vines growing out of the ground and starting to wrap around the shadow's feet, snaking upward slowly.  
"I-I didn't do anything! You mean Lili? I brought her here!" The shadow said in surprise, his red eyes open wide with horror at the feeling of the vines creeping up his legs.  
"Liar! You were searching for the avian city, and you were using her as bait- why? What happened to her?" Hermes shook the shadow as he yelled.  
"S-she was attacked by one of the guards! They said she was too much of a hassle, so when I escaped I brought her with me-I really didn't do anything!"  
"Escaped?" Hermes laughed in disbelief. "Now why would they want to keep a shadow prisoner in a SHADOW prison?" he snapped.  
"Hermes! Don't hurt him!" Alisha yelled as she ran into the hut, looking at the shriveled vines in surprise before running over to him. "He really didn't do anything- Lili said he saved her!"  
Hermes faltered for a minute, looking up at the shadow with hard eyes. "And why should I believe him? He may have tricked her."  
"Because he was being held with her- you have to believe them. He didn't mean any harm." Alisha said, touching Hermes' arm softly to try and calm him down. Hermes released the shadow's shirt slowly, still looking into his red eyes as he stepped away. The shadow fell to the ground, gasping for breath as his fear finally subsided, the vines that had been snaking up his legs holding his feet to the ground.  
"Phew. That was close." Bunji sighed as he lay on Alisha's shoulder in relief. "Good thing I can read minds."  
"I need to talk with my sister." Hermes muttered, before leaving the hut again.  
"Bunji, why don't you help them out? You can translate faster than she can write." Alisha said to the mouse, taking him gently in her hands and putting him on the ground.  
"Good idea!" The mouse cheered and ran through the leaves and grass back toward the other hut.  
"Now." Alisha turned around to look down at Irtasu, who was rubbing his neck where the shirt had choked him. He looked up at her with dull eyes, which immediately widened in surprise.  
"Wait- you're human!" he said in shock.  
"Excellent deduction, Sherlock." Alisha said wryly. "Are you alright? I've never seen Hermes that angry before."  
"Hermes? Oh- you must mean Lasons." Irtasu said in realization. "Yeah… I figured something like that would happen." he sighed.  
"Well you were right- but are you okay? Your legs are wrapped up in vines."  
"Huh? Oh Yeah- I don't really know if I can get out of them." He tugged at the plants, but sighed when they didn't budge. "That guy has some nasty tricks up his sleeve."  
"He's a nice guy though, as long as you don't make him angry." Alisha smiled and looked at the plants before turning around and walking to the entrance of the tent, asking Pirko for a knife.  
"Be careful with it- it's sharp." He warned before handing it over to her.  
"Well duh, that's why I need it." Alisha laughed before turning back around toward Irtasu, who looked at the knife warily.  
"I'm not going to kill you or anything- you need to get those vines off." Alisha knelt next to him, cutting through the vines as Irtasu watched.  
"Why are you helping me? I'm a shadow." He whispered.  
"So? If you helped save Hermes' sister you can't be that bad, right?" She looked up at him for a minute, noticing his confused eyes before continuing cutting the vines away from his ankles and shins.  
"Is he okay? Does he need-" Que looked into the building, staring at Irtasu in shock as he stared back at her with wide eyes.  
"Oh crap." Pirko muttered.


	9. Chapter 9

Pirko grabbed Que by the shoulders and turned her so that she was facing away from Irtasu as they all waited for the binding to start…  
But nothing happened.  
"What are you doing?" Que looked over her shoulder at Pirko, who blinked in confusion.  
"But… wait… isn't he your…?" He pointed toward Irtasu, who was looking just as confused as he was.  
"My what?" Que glared, wriggling out of Pirko's grip.  
"I am your shadow." Irtasu said, his voice cracking uneasily a little bit from the revelation.  
"You?" Que looked at him with wide eyes. "But you're a guy."  
"That's true… I've never seen a shadow of the opposite gender. That's weird." Pirko said thoughtfully. "But you two aren't binding like I did with my shadow. What does that mean?"  
Alisha finally cut through the last of the vines keeping Irtasu's feet trapped to the ground, and the rabbit shadow sighed as he sat back and relaxed a bit.  
"Maybe certain people aren't supposed to bind like that?" Alisha said, trying to figure it out herself.  
"Then how DO we bind?" Irtasu said, looking up at Que, who looked at the ground uneasily from his red eyes.  
"Maybe we just don't." She said quietly, and then looked up in realization. "Wait… my mother told me something to remember before she died. I went 'A light in the corner of your eye shows a path; Hurry Hurry Hurry before night reaches it. And once again you shall be true.' Does that make any sense?"  
"Well I'm already partially light. I've always been that way." Irtasu pointed to the white tips to his rabbit ears. "That's why they sent me to jail."  
"Does that mean I've always been part shadow?" Que reached behind her to hold one of her long white black tipped ears.  
Irtasu just shrugged. "All I know is that this isn't the way it's supposed to happen."  
"Agreed. Now then, I suggest we just let this rest for a while and try and go back to our lives." Pirko said, rubbing his head from all the thinking.  
"Maybe we should ask the dragon in this region. We have to find him anyway." Alisha shrugged.  
"That's a good idea." Irtasu smiled. "He'll probably know what this is about."  
"Alright, but until then let's keep these two apart. Who knows what'll happen if they stay together for too long?" Pirko pushed Que out of the tent, looking back at Irtasu one last time before leaving as well.  
"Don't mind him. I'm sure you two will be fine." Alisha smiled and stood. "Though I should probably go see how Hermes is doing with his sister. I don't want him to be too angry with her when she can't explain herself properly."  
Irtasu looked at Alisha and grinned. "You'll make a good queen."  
Alisha froze and looked down at him, nodding uneasily before walking out of the tent.

Hermes looked up as Alisha walked into the tent, who noticed that he and Lili were both looking much calmer.  
"Lili has confirmed that Irtasu means no harm." Hermes sighed, looking at the ground guiltily. "I guess I got out of hand."  
Lili laughed silently and nodded as Alisha chuckled while she sat on the ground beside both of them. "That's an understatement. You nearly strangled the poor guy. He's Que's shadow, by the way."  
Hermes looked up in surprise at that news, turning worried eyes toward the door of the tent. "Has he met her yet?"  
"Well yeah of course, how else would we know that? Nothing happened if that's what you're worried about."  
Lili looked confused as Hermes turned back around, his face thoughtful. "That's different." he muttered.  
"Yeah, I guess it is. Pirko was trying to figure it out too- I thought we'd just wait until we meet the dragon and find out what's going on from him. They seem to know a lot more than anyone else."  
Lili nodded in agreement with a smile.  
"She said that's a very good idea- the mystics have lived longer than any other creature in this world- and some of them can even remember the Otherworld. Wow, really?" Bunji helped translate, but looked surprised. "I didn't know they had lived that long."  
"Some of the mystics are older even than Wonderland itself." Hermes nodded.  
"Anyway, we were just discussing what we should do about my name. It's probably very confusing that everyone is calling me Lasons while you call me Hermes."  
Alisha shrugged. "I could call you Lasons too if you wanted me to. I just called you by that because that's what you were called when you found me."  
"True. Which is why I'm changing my name." Hermes smiled at Alisha's surprised expression. "it's not too difficult. I just have to get the elder to agree with it, and it is done."  
"But… Lasons was the name given to you by your parents… isn't it better that you keep it?"  
Lili laughed silently again and Bunji started laughing as well. "Lili said Lasons is a girl's name. He never liked it. Apparently it means 'pretty bird' in some language of theirs."  
Hermes looked at the ground, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment. "I'll never live that down, will I?"  
"Well if you don't like your name I guess it's okay to change it, I just don't want you to feel like you have to because of me." Alisha said sheepishly, looking at the ground uneasily.  
"I'm not. Things will just be easier this way." He smiled warmly. "Don't worry about it."  
Lili looked back and forth between Hermes and Alisha before smiling wryly. Bunji suddenly sat up in alert, looking at them as well.  
"Do you really think so?" He looked up at Lili in disbelief, scoffing when she nodded.  
"Think what?" Hermes looked to his sister in confusion who only snickered and shook her head.  
Hermes watched her warily for a minute before looking back to Alisha. "So it's getting late- have you eaten yet?" He asked, looking to Lili as well.  
"No, I don't think I've eaten at all today." Alisha shrugged uncaringly. She never had much of an apatite- the only time she ate was when she remembered to.  
Hermes stared at her for a minute before rolling his eyes with a sigh. "Alright, I'll go get something stay here." He said, standing and exiting the tent muttering something to himself.  
Lili watched Hermes go, waiting until his footsteps faded into the distance before suddenly turning to Alisha.  
"Oh- she wants to know if you like Hermes." Bunji said, putting a paw to his forehead. "I really don't need to think about that."  
"Of course I like him, he's nice." Alisha said in confusion.  
Lili only shook her head and smiled, holding her hands up so that they formed a heart.  
Alisha blushed, shaking her head quickly. "Ah- no! Not like that, I've only known him for two days! Unless you count when he was a parrot, but he never talked to me or anything." Alisha said quickly in defense.  
Lili nodded, though still had a wry smile on her face when Hermes walked back in the tent with a plate of food in either hand.  
"What's going on?" He asked, seeing Alisha's flushed face.  
"Nothing!" She said quickly, and Lili laughed silently.

"Wait… what do you mean we have to sleep in the same hut?" Alisha looked at the small hut in front of them, Hermes looking just as uneasy as she was while he stood beside her.  
"Well there aren't many more, and you two get along well. We almost put your lion friend in the same hut as the raven. Apparently they don't get along." Ichi chuckled at the looks the two had given each other. "Either way, you're Alisha's guardian, right? So you two should be fine with each other." The brightly colored bird opened the flap leading into the hut, which was sparsely decorated with wild flowers and paintings. In the light of the setting sun, the fading light revealed a small painting in the corner.  
"Anyway, I'm sure you're fine. I'll see you two tomorrow." Ichi said cheerfully, and walked off to show others to the huts they were staying at. Hermes looked at Alisha uneasily before walking into the hut, keeping the flap open for her with one of his wings. She walked in, looking around and biting her lip nervously when she saw how small the hut was- there was only enough room for two blankets on the ground, which were folded on top of feathered mattresses.  
Hermes cleared his throat and settled down on the mattress closest to the door, turning himself away from the other mattress and folding his wings against his back. "Well, good night then." He muttered, closing his eyes to keep from watching Alisha as she settled down as well. She watched his back for a minute, sighing softly as she closed her eyes as well, drifting to sleep.

"_So my dear, you are the one brought to this world?" A deep voice echoed through the black void Alisha suddenly found herself in.  
"How cute. You even carry her mark- that must be how they found you. She should have known better, but then again she was never the brightest of us." The voice said in amusement, revealing a tall man dressed in black, his ice-blue eyes looking down at her in interest. "What is your name, girl?"  
"A-Alisha." She stammered, unable to take her gaze away from his- as if something held her.  
"Alisha. A quaint name, if I do say so. I will give you one chance to go home, Alisha. After that I will have to come after you."  
"Why would you come after me?" Alisha whispered, gasping as his eyes suddenly flashed red, and she stumbled backwards, falling to the ground.  
"Because you stupid girl, I want to rule these lands. You are the only one stopping me from doing so." He smiled, his face contorting in the shadows into a long muzzle lined with spikes and barbs, his teeth sharpening and lengthening until a large black dragon stood in front of Alisha, smoke curling from its nostrils. "As I've said, you will have one chance to go home before I kill you and everyone you know. Do not make this unpleasant for yourself." He growled, fangs flashing.  
Visions flashed through her head- Gale and Kandor lying still in an empty room- Irtasu and Que strapped to metal beds, Que yelling as a shadow touched a finger to her forehead, black seeping through the connection into her fur as Irtasu yelled in protest. Pirko kneeling against a wall of a dungeon, his wrists shackled to the walls. Hermes lying in a corner, his once beautiful wings only stubs of bone and muscle.  
"No!" Alisha yelled as tears starting filling her eyes at the horrible images, cold hands gripping her by the shoulders as she struggled._

"Alisha, wake up!" A familiar voice yelled, and Alisha opened her eyes with a gasp, looking up at Hermes as he held her shoulders. His deep blue eyes were filled with concern as he kept his grip, watching as cold sweat beaded down her forehead, mixing with the tears streaming from her eyes. "What happened?"  
"I don't know." Alisha said, looking up at him, not able to help but remember what she had seen in the dream. She let out a sob and leaned into his chest, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt as she cried into his shoulder. "It was horrible- some guy wants to kill me, and he'll hurt all of you too." She said between sobs, and Hermes looked down at her in concern before wrapping his arms around her, and his wings folding around them both protectively.  
"I didn't know he could send to you in your dreams." He said, holding her tight as she sobbed.  
"Who? Who is he?" Alisha whispered in horror.  
"Asmarath. He's the leader of the shadows, and is one of the few known sorcerers."  
"Sorcerers? What so he's not a dragon?"  
"No, not in your world. You know how when I go to your world I'm a parrot? He's the opposite. It's to give the sorcerers and sorceress' a disadvantage. Seems like it's not working, though." Hermes said bitterly.  
"I don't want you to get hurt. He showed me how he'd do it…" Alisha started crying harder, tightening her grip. "I don't want that to happen to any of you. I want to go back home."  
Hermes stayed silent for a minute before sighing softly. "He'd win either way, Alisha."  
"What do you mean? You'd all live if I went home." She looked up at him, her eyes misty from tears.  
Hermes faltered as he looked down at her, his eyes wide before he cleared his throat slightly. "No, he'd go back to your world. He wants you to lead him to the portal. But he cannot get there- he would…" Hermes paused for a bit. "He'd do terrible things to your people, who are so defenseless against magic."  
"So then what do we do?" Alisha whispered, loosening her grip on Hermes' shirt as she started to calm down.  
"We fight against him in every way we can. It's the only thing we can do. But first we have to find the guardian of these jungles. He'll be able to help us somehow." He loosened his grip on her, but kept his arms around her waist as they looked at each other for a minute, their eyes wide. Hermes looked away with a blush and folded his wings back behind him, taking his arms away from her. "We should get some sleep though, it's the middle of the night."  
Alisha nodded, reluctantly letting go of his shirt as he kneeled against her, moving his mattress closer to her.  
"If you need anything else, go ahead and wake me up. I won't mind." He said before laying back down on the mattress, waiting for her to go to sleep before unfurling one of his wings and settling it over her protectively.


	10. Chapter 10

Ichi stood in the doorway of the tent Hermes and Alisha were sleeping in, a large grin covering his face as he looked down at the two. Hermes had his wing held protectively over them both as he held her by the waist in his sleep, his face resting among her brown hair.  
Well what do you know- he'd been right all along.  
"Hey you two love birds, we have a long day ahead of us!" Ichi walked into the room, kicking Hermes lightly on the back beneath his wings. Hermes stirred awake, yelling in surprise when he saw himself holding Alisha. He scrambled backwards, sighing in relief when he saw she was still asleep. She hadn't slept very well last night- she had been tossing and turning constantly until just about an hour ago.  
"That's a dangerous woman to fall in love with, Hermes." Ichi said, suddenly serious. "She's the queen."  
"I'm not in love with her." Hermes growled. "She had a bad dream last night and was hysterical. I was just trying to calm her down."  
"Right." Ichi rolled his eyes in exasperation. "And I'm the king of the tundra. Anyway, we're planning a celebration to welcome the queen to the city. Neena insisted on it."  
"Yeah, she would wouldn't see? It's a perfect excuse for a party." Hermes rubbed his face with his hand as he sighed drowsily. "Is Lili awake yet?"  
"Lili?" Ichi frowned. "What do you mean? She's dead."  
Hermes looked up at Ichi from between the fingers of his hand. "No, she's over in the healing tent. You didn't know?"  
Ichi stood silent for a minute, his feathers raising angrily. "Why does no one tell me anything anymore?" He growled and stormed out of the tent.  
Hermes looked beside him at Alice as she snored in her sleep, rolling over on her back with her arms and legs splayed out. He chuckled at the position, wondering how she could sleep like that.  
"Alisha, wake up." He nudged her in the side, but she only frowned and turned over, facing away from him.  
"No mom, I don't want to go to school today." She muttered in her sleep. Hermes grinned, leaning closer to her.  
"It's 8:30- you'll be late to school and you'll get detention. Your mom will ground you from the computer." He whispered and sat up to avoid her as she suddenly sat up with a yell. She gasped for air as she looked around her, but only saw Hermes laughing.  
"That was mean." Alisha pouted as she tried to stop her heart from thundering in her chest.  
"Yeah, but it got you awake." Hermes stood, holding out a hand to help her up. "Come on, Neena has a surprise in store for you. Apparently we're having a party."  
"A party? Like with music and dancing and stuff?" Alisha said in excitement as she was hoisted to her feet when she took Hermes' hand.  
"Yep, though our music is a little different from yours. First things first though, I need to talk with Arozo to get my new name accepted. You can hang out with Lili if you want- I'm sure she'll be getting ready for the party too." Hermes walked with her outside the tent, but turned toward the elder's tent as Alisha stood there, looking around her with a soft sigh. Birds flew overhead as the jungle made its usual noises along with the collective murmurs of those in the bird city. She smiled and walked over to the tent where Lili was, opening the tent flap slightly before stopping when she heard voices.  
"No, I don't want to talk to the mouse. I want to talk to you."  
Silence, and a small voice that Alisha couldn't make out- but it sounded like Ichi was in there talking with Lili, and he sounded annoyed.  
"I want to talk with you alone. Why aren't you talking? Pen and paper? Alright, I saw some over here."  
A slight rustle, followed by items being knocked around, and then more silence.  
"Captured?" Ichi said quietly. "And they… Let me see."  
More silence, then a sharp hiss from Ichi.  
"H-hey, don't cry." Ichi said uneasily. "it's not so bad- you can write, can't you? You're fine. I was just annoyed that you've been here all along and I still thought you were dead. After all we've been through do you still trust me?"  
Alisha bit her lip nervously, feeling as if she was intruding at this point. It was obvious there was more here than what she was hearing.  
"Good. Now, nothing's changed. Remember what I said? It's still true, and always will be."  
Alisha had enough, and walked away from the tent, wondering what he had said to Lili before she had gone missing. It couldn't have been that long ago, but still… they were probably just kids then.  
She looked up when a vibrant bird flew through the air, its red feathers shining in the early morning sunlight. She looked at it in wonder as it drifted down and perched on a branch a little ways from the city, singing happily. Alisha looked around to see if Hermes was back yet, but didn't see him anywhere in sight. She walked quietly up to the bird, hoping to get a better look before it flew away again. She frowned when it spotted her, taking off and flying further into the jungle.  
She watched it fly away, quickly disappearing among the thick canopy of the forest. She looked around, letting out a small squeak of fear when she saw nothing around her telling which was the city was. She listened, but all she could hear were the chirps and calls of birds above her. She chose a direction she thought was best, and started walking slowly, hearing a growl from behind her. Her pace quickened as she looked behind her shoulder, but tripped on a root sticking from the ground and fell face-first into the leaves and muck of the jungle ground. She turned around to see a large jaguar looking at her with wide yellow eyes, pacing around her as it came into view.  
Alisha let out a yell of fear, trying to scramble to her feet, but noticing her foot was caught in between the root and the ground. She tried to free herself as the jaguar advanced, its mouth opening in a snarl, revealing large fangs as saliva dripped from its mouth in anticipation. A large brown blur suddenly appeared in front of Alisha, the jaguar knocked aside.  
"What the hell are you doing out here?" Pirko growled over his shoulder at her, but turned his attention back to the jaguar as it stood up, looking very angry. Pirko inhaled a deep breath and bared his clawed hands, letting out a loud lion-like roar that made the jaguar skitter away in shock. Pirko waiting until the jaguar was out of sight before coughing, then catching his breath.  
"I'm not used to doing that." He said, his voice raspy from use as he kneeled down and cut through the root trapping Alisha's foot. "Now, tell me why you're out here- and where's Hermes? Isn't he supposed to be protecting you?"  
"He's with the elders, they're changing his name from Lasons to Hermes." Alisha said mekely, realizing how stupid she looked.  
"Okay, that answers one part. Now why are you out in the thick of the jungle? It's dangerous out here." Pirko took her forearm and hoisted her to her feet. "Is your ankle alright?"  
"Should be." Alisha put her weight on the ankle and hissed as pain shot up her leg.  
"Alright, hold on." Pirko sighed, picking her up in his arms and starting to walk back in the opposite direction she had been walking. "So, answer my question already."  
"You'll just get angrier at me." Alisha looked to the ground uneasily.  
"No I won't, I'm not even angry now. Annoyed maybe, but not angry."  
"Alright… I saw a bird, and wanted to see it closer." She whispered, flinching as she prepared for Pirko to yell at her. Instead, he just laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.  
"What's with you and birds? You're fine- just don't do it again. You can get lost pretty easily in this jungle."  
"I noticed." Alisha muttered.  
Pirko grinned, revealing fangs along with normal teeth in his mouth. "So then, do you want to go to the healing tent? You should probably have your ankle looked at."  
Alisha thought for a minute, wondering if Ichi was still there with Lili. "Check if Ichi's there first. If he is, we'll go somewhere else."  
"Alright." Pirko said in confusion, but decided not to ask. He stopped near the opening of the tent, one of his ears twitching as he listened for someone inside. "I don't hear anything."  
"Alright then, I guess it's okay." Alisha sighed in relief. She'd hate to have a sprained ankle for the party coming up soon.  
"Oh my, what happened?" Neena looked at Alisha's ankle, which was starting to swell.  
"She tripped in the jungle." Pirko answered for Alisha, setting her down gently on one of the chairs in the room.  
"I see, well we can have that fixed in a jiffy, no need to worry about dancing at the party." Neena smiled, holding her hands out around Alisha's ankle, a soft glow forming between them.  
"Party?" Pirko lifted an eyebrow curiously.  
"Yeah, they're having a party for us. Music, dancing, food and all- right?" Alisha smiled to Neena who looked up in excitement.  
"I love parties- and this one will be the best one this year- I'm sure you'll all love it. But there's only one rule to the party: you have to have a date."  
Pikro glanced down at Alisha as Neena started talking about what decorations she was going to put up.  
"Will you go with me?" He asked, making Alisha look up at him in surprise.  
"Well, I'm not sure… um… I don't even know what I'll wear." Alisha said uneasily, looking at the ground.  
"I don't care what you wear. I just want to go with you." He said, his blue eyes flashing to a bright green.  
"Can I answer you later?" She asked sheepishly, Pirko sighing.  
"I suppose." He said, looking down at her with a soft smile. "Just don't wander into the jungle anymore, okay?"  
"Alright." Alisha blushed, looking away as she thought about what she would wear to the party. All she had now were her old clothes that were tattered and dirty from traveling.


	11. Chapter 11

Alisha sat on the ground in front of Lili, looking quite nervous as the bird smiled wryly at her.  
'You should go with my brother. I'm sure he'd like to bring you'. She wrote on a paper between them as Bunji slept soundly on the table beside them.  
"He hasn't asked me yet." Alisha shrugged. "He probably doesn't want to go with me."  
'He does. Could I ask you a favor?' She looked up at Alisha after she finished writing.  
"Sure, what do you want?" Alisha looked at her curiously.  
'Could you bring Ichi in here? I'd like to talk with him. Then we can go get our dresses from the weaver.'  
"Alright." Alisha smiled. "Hopefully they'll have something in my size."  
'I'm sure they can work something out.' She ended with a chuckle, watching as Alisha smiled and left the tent to go find Ichi.  
She looked around, first looking in his tent, then the elder's, and finally walking over to her and Hermes' tent. She heard people talking outside and stopped, wondering if she should interrupt them or not.  
"I can't. She's the queen- it's wrong." Hermes said, sounding frustrated. "Besides, someday she has to go back. That's how it always goes."  
"So you're just going to sit there on your butt and let her go because you don't feel like a little bit of pain?" Ichi didn't sound frustrated- he sounded downright angry. "I didn't know you had turned into such a coward, Hermes."  
"I'm not a coward." Hermes growled out. "I'm her protector. Nothing more, nothing less."  
Alisha's eyes widened as she felt a twinge of pain in her chest at those words- she had thought Hermes had at least _liked_ her. But he was only being nice to her because it was his duty to do so. She let the tent flap close shut loudly, hearing someone swear but not caring who heard her as she ran to get away. She had started to really care about Hermes- how could he not feel anything in return? Had last night been just another duty of his toward her? To keep her safe and nothing more?  
Tears stung her eyes as she ran through the city, trying to get away while not going into the jungle again. She bumped into someone and looked up to see Kandor looking down at her in concern.  
"Hey- what's wrong?" He asked, holding her by the shoulders as he maneuvered them out of the middle of the street.  
"Nothing." Alisha whispered, looking away from him.  
"Right, and those tears are nothing." Kandor looked around, as if looking for someone but sighed when he saw no one. "Tell me what happened."  
"No, you'll think I'm stupid."  
"Please." Kandor rolled his eyes. "No one will think you're stupid- especially not me. Just tell me what happened, and I'll try my best to make it better." The raven smiled reassuringly, trying to cheer her up.  
"Hermes doesn't like me." She whispered, looking away from him as his eyes flashed in realization.  
"And you love him?" He said quietly so that no one else around them would hear.  
"I don't know. I know I like him, but…" Alisha trailed off, trying to think. "He was talking to Ichi, and I heard them. He said that he was just a protector to me. Nothing more, and nothing less. Everything he's said and done was just to protect me- he was never being actually nice to me." Alisha bit back a fresh sob as the pain in her chest throbbed again, her stomach sinking.  
Kandor sighed, looking particularly angry as he looked in the direction of Hermes' and Alisha's tent. "He might not have meant it." He looked back down at Alisha, his eyes soft. "I saw how he looked at you- he really does care for you more than a protector. He likes you as a person as well. It's a lot harder to say your feelings than you might think- especially if you're a guy."  
"What do you mean?" Alisha looked up at him in confusion.  
"Well, guys are supposed to be tough. We're raised so that is bad if we show emotion. And then all of a sudden we have to pour all our emotions out to a particular girl in order to say what we're thinking. It's hard for us- it goes against everything we've grown up with."  
Alisha nodded, starting to understand a little.  
"Now, what brought all of this on? Did you ask him something?"  
"Oh- no. There's a party tomorrow, and I think his sister is pressuring him to ask me to it. You have to have a date to go to the party."  
"A party?" Kandor said with interest. "And you must have a date to go to it?"  
Alisha nodded, looking up at Kandor's thoughtful face and chuckled. "Are you going to ask Gale?"  
Kandor looked down at her, his eyes wide. "How did you-"  
"Please- it's written all over your face. Every time you look at her, talk to her… everything."  
"Do you think she has noticed?" He asked uneasily, his voice a murmur.  
"Doubt it. She doesn't seem to pay attention too much to that type of thing. You're going to have to actually tell her." Alisha smiled.  
Kandor sighed, and nodded slowly. "That is much harder to do than it sounds."  
"I know. You're a good guy though, I'm sure you'll manage to do it." She looked back toward the tent, and then stepped away slightly from Kandor.  
"Well, Hermes' sister is waiting for me. I should probably go get Ichi and get my dress for tomorrow. It'll be a busy day. I also have to talk with Pirko sometime tonight." She looked uneasy again.  
"Why, what did he say?"  
"Oh- he asked me to the party already." Alisha rolled her eyes. "I had no idea I would be so popular in this world. I almost wish I had had this much attention from guys back in my world." She sighed with a smirk, and walked casually back to the other tents, making sure there would be no clues that she had been crying on her face.

Lili looked up as Alisha walked back into the tent, but knew immediately that something was different.  
"Couldn't find Ichi anywhere, sorry." Alisha smiled, sitting down in front of Lili again. Lili watched Alisha with concern for a minute before writing on the paper again between them.  
'It's okay- he came here while you were gone. Do you want to go get our dresses?' Lili looked eager to get out of the tent.  
"Will this be your first time outside?" Alisha smiled softly.  
Lili nodded, standing up and looking at the tent flap eagerly. They walked out of the tent together, Lili flinching from the brightness of the sun and looking around once she got used to it. She smiled happily at all the birds around them, looking at the different huts and the jungle around the city. She grabbed Alisha by the wrist and started running toward the hut on the far side of the street, other girls already crowding around its outside as they read a board. Alisha walked around to the board, wondering what it said but only saw jibberish, sighing when she realized it was written in a different language. Lili dragged her into the hut, looking around as her wrist was freed, and Lili walked up to the white bird, taking a piece of paper out of the belt she was wearing, holding a pen as well. The white bird looked up, her blue eyes wide as she stared at Lili, a strange blond Mohawk suddenly rising from among her white hair.  
"Lili?" She stood, and gave Lili a great hug, who gasped for air and laughed silently. "I thought you were dead, girlie! Now, you can tell me what happened later- for now, I know why you're here. Are you planning on doing with that handsome Ichi of yours?" The bird grinned wryly.  
Lili's face turned red as she nodded quickly.  
"Oh good- he's a good boy, though a bit of a trouble-maker. Now- what type of dress would you like?" The white bird circled around Lili, looking on with satisfaction. "You're a lanky girl, aren't you? You'll have to eat more if you want to fill out." The cockatoo smiled down at Lili as she blushed again. "You'll be wanting something that will cover your neck am I right, my dear?" She said softly.  
Lili nodded, smiling gratefully up to her.  
"Alright then." The woman brought over an armful of scrap cloth, lying it on a table in front of her before raising her hands, the cloth suddenly raising into the air. It spun over itself as it unwove the thread holding it together, the long string falling in circles on the table until the end of it finally came loose from the rag. The string now raised again into the air, re-weaving itself and changing color and texture as it did so, turning the scrap of rag into a cloth of silk, which cut and sewed itself into a white dress, which fell into Lili's open arms. Another string of the rag formed itself into a matching white scarf, which fell on top of the dress. Lili looked down at it happily, looking back up at the weaver with a wide grin.  
"You're welcome." the weaver chuckled, and Lili moved aside to let Alisha through.  
"Well then, what do we have here? I'm sorry I didn't see you before, dear. My name is Maxine. I'm the magiweaver of this city. Did you want a dress for the party too?" The bird stood and circled around Alisha, looking at her with a thoughtful eye. "How do you feel about deep green?"  
"I love green." Alisha smiled. She watched as another rag flew into the air, turning itself into a green and silk dress with a long black spiral spinning down the dress, matching the scar on her cheek that had brought her here. It shone in the sunlight coming through the flap of the hut, and Alisha looked at it in wonder as it drifted down into her arms.  
"it's beautiful, thank you." She smiled happily. The cockatoo smiled as well, the mohawk on top of her head raising proudly.  
"It's no problem dearie, have fun at the party- and good luck finding a guy." She winked as Lili and Alisha walked out of the hut.  
"Don't think I'll have any problems there." Alisha sighed, Lili chuckling silently beside her.

That night, with the dress safely at Lili's tent, Alisha stood outside her and Hermes' tent, pausing to gain her composure as she walked in. She saw Hermes sitting at a desk, his head in his hand while his wings drooped around either side of him. He made no reaction to her, so she shrugged and walked over to her bed, laying down and turning on her side so that she faced away from him.  
She waited in the silence for a while before closing her eyes tightly in frustration, her teeth bared. "Good night." She dared to say, but didn't see Hermes jump in surprise and look around the room. He looked over at her, seeing that she was facing away from him and sighed softly, standing with a groan of pain from sitting in the same place for so long, lying down on the mattress, facing Alisha's back. He watched her thoughtfully, wondering if Ichi had been right.


	12. Chapter 12

The following morning, Pirko watched Alisha walk out of the tent, heading toward the healer's tent again, and then leaned casually against the hut, waiting for Hermes to appear. When the bird finally did appear out of the doorway, Pirko grabbed him by the wrist.  
"We need to talk." he said, looking up to see if Alisha was watching before moving with Hermes back into the hut.  
"What's wrong?" Hermes sighed, tired from lack of sleep- he had hardly been able to sleep last night from what Ichi had told him.  
"It's about Alisha. I'm taking her to the party." Pirko said bluntly, making Hermes blink in surprise.  
"What? You?" He asked in confusion.  
"Yes, me. You obviously aren't doing a good job of protecting her. She's depressed and wandering around the jungle almost getting eaten by leopards. Someone capable should take care of her." Pirko snorted in disapproval at the situation.  
"And you think you're that person?" Hermes said in disbelief.  
"Well I'd do a better job that you are. You don't have to be her protector anymore- I will. So you can stay here with your sister if you want to- you seem like you want to have some time to catch up with her after all those years in the Otherworld."  
Hermes stayed silent for a bit, wondering if that would be best- but he knew Lili would hate him for it. Especially when yesterday he found out from Ichi that Lili thought he should ask Alisha to the dance.  
"Have you asked her already?" Hermes said, suddenly standing straighter. If he had asked her already… he could go with someone else. There had to be someone else to go with in this city- someone from his childhood perhaps.  
"I asked her yesterday, though she didn't give me an answer. I thought that might have something to do with you. Is there anything between you two?" Pirko's eyes flashed from blue to green and back in an instant.  
Hermes faltered for a minute, looking to the ground uneasily. "No, there isn't."  
"Good." Pirko smiled in relief. "You won't mind me taking her to the party then." He said it as more of a statement than a question.  
Hermes stayed silent, his mouth pressed into a grim line as he resisted protesting. Pirko nodded in satisfaction and turned around, walking over to the weaver's tent to get his outfit ready for the party that night.

"Aw why the long face, bird-boy?"  
Hermes looked up from having his face in his hands in frustration, sitting on one of the logs at the edge of the jungle. He spotted Arya leaning down and smiling, watching him expectantly.  
"I really messed things up." Hermes muttered, scooting to the side a little to allow Arya room to sit down as well. The maned wolf frowned and sat beside him, her tail hanging off the side of the log.  
"So, what happened? Is it about Pirko and Alisha?" Arya said, sighing when Hermes raised his head in confusion. "It's all he's been talking about for the past two days." She grumbled. "That boy drives me _crazy_."  
"So he's been talking about her? What has he said?" Hermes said, his feathers ruffling a bit.  
"Oh, I see how it is." Arya smiled knowingly. "Mostly he's been talking about how cute and helpless she is- that she needs someone to constantly watch her."  
"She's not helpless." Hermes said in disgust. "She can take care of herself too, she's just not used to this kind of place. You should see their world- everything's been paved over and filled with houses- there are no trees except those that they've planted on purpose. The most dangerous thing she'd ever seen before coming here was a stupid dog!" Hermes paused, looking over ay Arya as she stared at him.  
"Is that what it's like there? No trees? No animals?" She gasped.  
"No, only houses and roads that they travel on with cars- machines that make them travel faster. Their cars can go faster than I could fly."  
Arya stared at her feet in shock. "No wonder she's having a hard time adjusting. Pirko doesn't know about any of that, does he?"  
"No, and he doesn't know about her-" Hermes stopped, looking at Arya and sighing. "I shouldn't say anything about that."  
"What? What is it?" Arya asked, looking at Hermes pained expression.  
"Even she doesn't know about it- but… that'll have to change soon. I just don't want to be the one to tell her." He sighed.  
"About what?" Arya insisted.  
"Alisha knew she was adopted- but she never knew her parents." Hermes looked up at Arya as she blinked in surprise.  
"And you know who they are?"  
"Yes, but… I don't know how she would react if she found out. Which is why I've been uneasy with her lately- I feel like I'm lying to her every time to talk to her."  
"Well-" Arya said suddenly, sitting upright with a smile. "Why don't you tell her after the party tomorrow? After all you're rooming with her, aren't you?"  
"Well, yes…" Hermes said thoughtfully. "But I still don't like her going with Pirko. I have no idea what he'll try to do with her while I'm not there to stop him."  
"He's not _that_ bad." Arya chuckled. "But if you're really worried you could always go with me and keep an eye on her- really I want to be there to dance." Arya chuckled.  
Hermes looked up at her in surprise. "Really?"  
"Well yeah." Arya shrugged. "As friends of course- I'll leave Alisha up to you."  
Hermes smirked wryly. "We'll see about that one." He muttered.

"Don't look so worried- you look fine." Alisha laughed as Lili fussed with the dress nervously as they waited. "The guys will be here soon."  
Lili looked up to Alisha and laughed silently, nodding then turned toward the opening to the hut as it was pushed aside.  
"We're here!" Ichi proclaimed as he and Pirko walked in, Pirko still tugging at the neck of his blue shirt, feeling that it was choking him somehow. He looked up at Alisha and stared with wide eyes at the shimmering dress on her- the swirling mark that ran across her cheek also ran down her neck to her collarbone, which was obvious from the low cut dress.  
"Er-" Pirko blinked in surprise and cleared his throat as he looked to the ground while Ichi laughed.  
"They both look beautiful, right? That's the best part of parties, in my opinion." The bird grinned and held out his elbow for Lili, who smiled gratefully and rested her hand in the curve of his arm as he escorted her out of the tent, and toward the music at the far side of the street. Pirko did the same for Alisha, tensing slightly at her touch when she rested her hand on his arm as well.  
"Don't look so nervous- I'm not going to hurt you or anything." Alisha chuckled as Pirko looked down at her, his eyes turning to a bright green.  
"I know, I'm just… not used to pretty girls." He muttered, looking away as he flushed.  
Ichi opened the flap into the main party tent, Alisha looked around in wonder at the flowers decorating the walls as people danced in the middle of the massive tent, a band playing a sort of mixture between celtic and Japanese music filled with wind instruments and a heavy drum beat. As Pirko looked around as well, Alisha spotted Arya dancing in the crowd. When the wolf spotted her she pointed to the right, continuing to dance with the others around her while laughing. Alisha looked curiously in that direction, her heart sinking when she saw Hermes sitting at a table, drinking a glass of… something. Apparently he had asked someone else instead of her, after all…  
"Hey- what's wrong?" Pirko noticed Alisha's pained expression and looked in the direction she was staring in, growling slightly when he saw Hermes. "Don't worry about it- he's here with someone else- we should have fun, right?" He said uneasily, trying to cheer her up.  
"You're right." Alisha smiled up to him, making him smile back in relief. "Why don't we dance then?" She said, tugging him to the dance floor as Lili frowned from beside Ichi.  
"But I can't-" Pirko protested as he was dragged forward, looking around uneasily at those dancing around them.  
"Here." Alisha took his hands and set one on her bare shoulder, the other on her waist, making him blush crimson from the contact. "Now we just go with the flow." She smiled, and started the twirling with the rest of the dancers around them.

"Ah, my feet hurt." Alisha sighed as she sat down in one of the many chairs at the edge of the tent, Pirko flopping down into the one beside her.  
"I didn't realize dancing would be so tiring." He said, watching with amazement as Arya continued to dance even after they had stopped.  
"I'm really thirsty too- this place is getting warm." Alisha waved her face with her hand to try to cool herself down.  
"Probably from all the people in here. Stay there I'll get you something to drink." Pirko smiled, getting up and making his way through the crowd toward the tables at the other side of the tent.  
Alisha sighed and leaned back, letting her head rest on the back of the chair. After a while she sighed and looked around, wondering where Pirko had gotten to- had he gotten stopped by someone?  
She stood up and looked around, her red hair falling over her shoulder in waves as she searched. Her heart leaped into her throat anxiously as she saw Pirko and Hermes talking at the far side of the tent, the people around them backing away quickly from the tension rising between them.  
Alisha grumbled in frustration and walked across the tent, walking over to Hermes and Pirko with blazing green eyes.  
"Why are you even here? Are you stalking her or something?" Pirko yelled at Hermes, his eyes a deep blue as he bared his fangs.  
"I'm protecting her from you- lion. I saw your claws all over her while you were dancing- you only asked her because you thought she was cute- you don't know who she really is."  
"And you do? You only met her a few days ago." Pirko growled.  
"Stop it! What's wrong with you two?" Alisha shouted, her hands on her hips as she glared at both of them. Hermes stared at her for a minute and shook his head as he was brought back to the situation.  
"I was just talking with him about the situation- everything's alright." He said, his voice gentle.  
"Of course it's not! You two are fighting again in the middle of a party- and about what? Who's protecting me again?"  
The two men looked to each other guiltily, making Alisha throw up her arms with a shout of frustration.  
"How about this- neither of you protect me- I'll protect myself and neither of you ever have to fight about it again. Now both of you just leave me alone!" Alisha yelled and turned around, storming out of the tent as everyone watched.  
Ichi shook his head in dismay from the crowd, letting Lili follow Alisha out the door, Bunji sitting on her shoulder and holding tightly onto her hair as she ran.  
"You two really messed up this time." Ichi glared at Pirko and Hermes, who were both staring at the entrance to the tent in shock and dismay.

Hermes stood outside of his and Alisha's tent, hoping she wasn't still too angry with him- he had never seen her yell like that before. He opened the tent flap, noticing the inside of the tent was pitch black- she had obviously turned out the nights for the light. He looked down at her mattress and noticed with some surprise that she had gone to sleep while still in her dress. He sat down in the chair in the hut, looking down at her for a minute before setting his head in his hands in frustration again.  
"Ichi was right, I've messed up. I… I was just worried that something would go wrong and you wouldn't want to talk to me again. I've been kind of avoiding you lately, I suppose." He looked at the ground and sighed.  
"You see, after my mother and father died, I traveled to the capitol to make use of my abilities. Everyone kept saying I'd make a great warrior for the kingdom, and so I went to go see what they'd want me to do. When they saw I was a Macaw, they automatically sent me to your world, with… some information." Hermes looked down at her still sleeping form. "I know you were adopted, Alisha- and I know who your parents are, but I don't want you to be too scared when I tell you." He paused for a minute to see her reaction, but blinked in confusion when she remained still. "Alisha?" He walked back over to her, kneeling on the ground next to her mattress and setting a hand on her bare shoulder- turning concerned when he felt cold, clammy skin. He turned her over and gasped when he saw that her eyes were an opaque white as she stared forward without emotion, the scar running down her cheek to her chest had darkened to a deep and menacing black against her pale skin.


	13. Chapter 13

"Alisha! Come on, wake up!" Hermes looked down at her in horror, his aching strangely at the side of her glossed-over eyes staring up at him blankly. "What's wrong with you?" He whispered, trying to think back to what had happened that night- but couldn't think of anything that would have done something like this. He scooped her up gently into his arms and stood up with her, running out of the hut and looking around- but seeing no one walking through the streets- everyone was still at the party. He ran through the tent flap, looking around with wild eyes as people stared at him.  
"QUE!" He yelled, noticing that Alisha was starting to get paler in his arms.  
Que burst out of the gathering crowd, looking at Alisha and gasping in horror. Hermes noticed with confusion and irtasu followed behind her, saw Alisha and started to pull chairs together to form a makeshift bed.  
"Thank you Irtasu- Hermes, please lay her on the um… chairs." Que motioned quickly for Hermes to set her down, and started yelling orders for items to be fetched from the crowd around her. The people ran out of the tent as Hermes set Alisha gently down on the chairs, looking down at her in concern.  
"What's wrong with her?" He said quietly as Que ran a finger along the blackened scar, hissing in pain when the contact burned her hand.  
"I don't know- I've never seen anything like this." She muttered, and took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly before holding her hands above Alisha's chest, her hands glowing. She held her hands still as her magic poured into Alisha, but bit her lip as something started flooding back into her hands. She watched in horror as her hands started turning black, trying to wrench her hands away but felt as if she was stuck in position. Irtasu grabbed her hands and moved her away from Alisha, looking down at the girl in shock.  
"She's possessed by him." Irtasu whispered in horror. "It's Asmarath." He looked toward Que as she stared at her hands. He took her hands gently and held them in his, the black seeping out of her hands as quickly as it had come. She looked up at him in surprise and he only chuckled.  
"You seem to forget I'm a shadow. Either way- there's nothing we can do for Alisha." Irtasu turned back toward Alisa. "Something must have happened while she was in her tent. Has anything strange happened lately?" he looked to Hermes, who watched Alisha thoughtfully.  
"The other night she had a nightmare with him in it- I thought it might just be a sending, but if she has sort… of…" Hermes' eyes widened in realization. "Oh gods- no."  
"What? What's wrong?"  
"Where's Stardust? Does anyone know where she is?" Hermes looked around the room frantically.  
"Stardust? The unicorn?" Que asked in confusion.  
"Yes, the unicorn- where is she?!" Hermes looked down at Alisha. "She must have been taken- something's happening to her, and therefore something's happening to Alisha."  
"But… why?" Que asked, and Irtasu put a palm up to his face in frustration.  
"Don't tell me- Stardust is linked to Alisha through-"  
"Blood." Hermes finished for him, looking down at Alisha in dismay. "There's only one person that can save her now, and I have no idea where he is."  
"Who? If someone doesn't tell me what's going on I'm going to get pissed." Que growled in frustration.  
"Alisha is Stardust's daughter. But how is that possible when she's from the Otherworld?" Irtasu said quietly.  
"I don't know- you'd have to ask them. For now, we have to go find someone. Maybe that dragon would know where he is- where's Sinto?" Hermes looked over at Neera, who was watching the whole thing with wide eyes.  
"He's north- through the jungle." She said quietly.  
"Right- let's go." Hermes said in determination, looking up to see Pirko watching Alisha, his eyes wide.  
"I'm coming with you." He said in a low voice, his eyes never leaving her.  
"Do what you want." Hermes muttered, picking Alisha up gently again, holding her in his arms so that her head rested against her shoulder.  
"I am too." Que said, her jaw set stubbornly. "Jungle or no, you guys may need help."  
"I'll come as well. I can detect any shadows that may be near." Irtasu nodded.  
"I think we're all joining you." Arya looked around at the others who had gathered, who all nodded as well.  
"We would not leave you two alone." Kandor said as Gale nodded in agreement beside him.  
Hermes looked around him and smiled gratefully. "Alright then, let's get going- she's starting to get cold." Hermes said, walking out of the tent. "Alright everyone- walking or flying?" He said, stretching his wings as if anticipating the answer.  
"Flying is faster." Kandor nodded in agreement.  
"Alright- everyone pick up a non-flyer and let's get going." Hermes took a running start through the street, flying over the rest of the city and over the jungle below, holding Alisha tight against him.

"Do you see that?" Hermes, called over his shoulder, pointing to a large brown and red mass below- looking very different from the trees around it.  
"I do- that may be it." Gale shouted back, descending with Hermes into a clearing a short ways away from the creature.  
"Stay back with her first- we have to make sure it's really the dragon." Gale looked to Hermes who nodded and waited for the rest of the group to walk forward before following with Alisha.  
"Wha- who the heck is bugging me this time of night?" A drowsy voice echoed through the trees. "Soul binders? What the heck? What do you want?"  
"It's him." Kandor called over his shoulder, and Hermes walked forward, stopping in surprise when the dragon suddenly reared up from its sleeping position to stare at Alisha in his arms. His blue eyes widened as a low keening noise came from his throat.  
"What happened to her?!" He stormed, looking at the group below him as smoke swirled angrily from his nostrils.  
"We don't know." Hermes said, alarmed that the dragon was suddenly so angry.  
The dragon stood and walked closer to Hermes, looking down at Alisha in concern. "Ah, I see. Please set her down." He said, sounding almost relieved.  
Hermes set her down on the ground in front of the dragon, looking up at him warily.  
"Back away now, son. You don't want to be roast goose." The dragon chuckled before moving his long neck above Alisha, opening his mouth and letting out a multicolored flame which soon enveloped her.  
Hermes let out a yell of horror and ran forward, but stopped when the dragon game him a warning look. When the fire stopped, Alisha was completely unscathed- in fact she looked better than she had before. Her swirling pattern on her cheek, neck and chest were back to its normal darker shade of peach rather than black- and her skin was flush again. Hermes sighed in relief as she stirred, looking up and letting out a squeak of fear at the dragon staring down at her.  
"It's alright." Hermes said, helping her up. She looked around at the jungle around her, and at the group behind Hermes who were all smiling in relief.  
"Did I miss something?" She said in confusion.  
"You were possessed by Asmarath.- which means that unfortunately Stardust is now in the hands of the shadows." The dragon said sadly. "I will fix that situation though- no way am I letting my sunshine be tortured by that overgrown snake." The dragon let out a low growl.  
"Why would that person have anything to do with me?" Alisha looked up at the dragon in confusion. The dragon looked down at her for a minute and laid down so that he was closer to her.  
"Tell me little one- what is your mother and father like?" He asked softly.  
"Uh… good, I guess?" Alisha said warily.  
"No dear- your _real_ mother and father."  
"But how did-" Alisha blinked in confusion. "Yeah I'm adopted, that was never a big deal to them."  
"And for that I am grateful. But for the time being it is a big deal. Your mother is Stardust- well, her real name is Caitlin, but for the sake of simplicity we'll stick with Stardust."  
"Wait- so…" Alisha stammered.  
"Yes dear, your mother is from this world. As is your father." The dragon's eyes turned warm. "Whose name is really Bryan, but you can call him Sinto."  
Alisha stared up at the dragon in shock, staggering back a step. "So I'm actually… the daughter of two creatures from this world? How?" She whispered.  
"Now that is the real story, isn't it?" The dragon smirked wryly. "You see your mother and I had it in with the druids who control these lands- nice guys really- and they agreed to let us live in the Otherworld for 50 years." The dragon sighed wistfully. "Wonderful years, those 50- anyway, in that time you were born, Alisha. But your mother and I knew that if we brought you back, the shadows would kill you." The dragon frowned. "You have to understand- your mother and I did not give you up because we didn't love you- we gave you up because we loved you too much. You were in danger when you were with us- and we had to return. We knew you would be safer in the Otherworld until you were older, and able to defend yourself."  
"So then how are you a dragon?" Alisha looked up at him curiously. "I'm still human."  
The dragon snorted in discontent. "I'm not in this form by choice, my dear. The druids made a rule for all Sorcerers taken to Wonderland to be turned into a dragon or unicorn or whatnot. That way we cannot use our full power. In our original world we could- which is why Asmarath must never get back to Earth."  
"So that makes me a…"  
"A sorceress, yes. Though an untrained one." The dragon looked down at her in satisfaction. "You've grown up to be so pretty, Alisha. You have your mother's eyes - and my hair." He chuckled. "I'm glad that got passed down- you have the Celtic spirit in you."  
"Your Celtic?" Alisha gasped.  
"Well technically I'm Norse- your mother is Celtic, the young thing." The dragon grinned. "Now I'll be back to talk with you dear, but I'm off to save my damsel in distress." The dragon yawned and opened its massive brown, red speckled wings, leaping off the ground in a sudden rush of wind which knocked Alisha off her feet and back into Hermes, who caught her with a laugh.  
"So, now you've met your father." Hermes smiled down at her.  
"Yeah." She grinned sheepishly. "I'm the daughter of a dragon and a unicorn- who knew?" She laughed nervously.


	14. Chapter 14

_A loud crash signaled his arrival. People scattered as a terrifying roar ripped through the sky, filled with anger at hatred at what had happened. His bright blue eyes looked around wildly for any sign of her as he raked his claws deep into the stone and mortar holding the buildings together, toppling over towers in his search. Careful not to kill as many shadows as he could manage, he looked into a building and growled angrily when he saw the white figure below, lying on her side in a pool of blood. Rage filled his vision as he picked up the unicorn, her body limp in his gentle claws.  
"You will die for this, snake." He growled between bared fangs as he looked around for any sign of Asmarath. Wild with anger he took to the sky, holding the unicorn close to him as he set the city on fire, flames bursting from his mouth and coating the ground below him in his revenge. He flew higher into the clouds, finally able to inspect the unicorn in his hands. She was wounded terribly on her side- a deep gash raking through her snow white fur, some of which had faded to a gray color. Sinto keened sadly and flapped his wings harder to fly as fast as he could back to the one person that could heal her…_

Alisha sat up with a gasp, looking around and sighed with relief when she saw she was back in her own tent, Hermes waking up from her gasp beside her.  
"Are you alright?" He inspected her for a minute before meeting her eyes again and waiting for an answer.  
"Yeah- I just… had another dream." Alisha sighed as she tried to keep her heart from pounding in her chest.  
"Was it Asmarath?" Hermes said quietly, moving closer to her when he saw the fear in her eyes.  
"No… not this time." Alisha ran a hand through her hair uneasily. "It was about my father- he found my mom."  
"Oh." Hermes watched her expectantly. "And?"  
"She's in pretty bad shape. But he's heading toward someone who can heal her."  
"Well that's good, I suppose." Hermes said, not sure what else to say. "Are you feeling okay? We were planning on traveling again today."  
"I'm fine." Alisha smiled, looking toward the tent opening thoughtfully. "Though we should get going before it gets too hot- I'd rather not be trudging through the jungle at high noon."  
"Yes, a very good idea." Hermes nodded and stretched with a wide yawn, the tips of his wings touching either side of the tent around him. He relaxed, folding the massive wings back against his back and looked at Alisha curiously when she kept watching him.  
"What?" He asked, wondering why she was staring- did his feathers look that bad? He hadn't had a chance to preen last night…  
"Nothing… I just… like your wings." Alisha blushed and looked away, grabbing the small bag of sanitary supplies Lili had given her and quickly walked out of the tent as Hermes watched her leave in confusion.

"So then, we're off to head back through the hot steamy forest." Que said in sarcastic enthusiasm.  
"it's not that bad." Irtasu raised an eyebrow down at her. "We could be in the desert."  
Que groaned in agony at just the thought of traveling through the desert, and looked over to Hermes, who was discussing something with Pirko, Kandor and Gale.  
"I still think we should head to the capitol- they should know that the queen is with us." Hermes said, glancing to Alisha as she talked with Lili a few yards away.  
"We have to gather people first- I think we should head to the largest population nearest to us." Pirko pointed to a spot on the map between them.  
"But if we head that way, we'll be going in the opposite direction of the capitol!" Hermes said in frustration.  
"I have an idea- I think we should get Alisha some training with her magic- she's a sorceress, right? She should be able to use her abilities when she meets up with anyone who might want to hurt her." Gale shrugged thoughtfully.  
Hermes, Pirko and Kandor looked up at her with wide eyes.  
"That's a great idea- and she would be a lot more confident too- I don't think she likes relying on us." Pirko muttered.  
"No, she doesn't." Kandor agreed. "So do you guys know where we can find someone to train her?"  
"I do!" Que said in excitement from behind them, making them all look at her in surprise.  
"There's someone up at my hometown who can train her." The rabbit said happily, smiling eagerly.  
"But… you're from the tundra." Pirko said, his nose wrinkling in disgust at the idea of a place so cold.  
"Yeah, so? It's the only person we know of that can train her other than her mom and dad and obviously they'll be busy for a while from what Alisha told us."  
"I think we should do what she says. It's the best way to make sure Alisha can control her powers in case something goes wrong."  
"We don't even know what her powers are though." Pirko protested desperately. "The person in the tundra must only have ice powers or something like that, right? Alisha's the daughter of a fire master."  
"Actually, the person I'm talking about is a fire master too." Que sneered at Pirko, who growled slightly in frustration.  
"Alright then." Hermes took the map and rolled it up, tying a string around it to keep it closed. "We'll head to the tundra and have Alisha trained in her magic. After that we'll start gathering others to fight the shadows, and then she'll go to the capitol to train to be the queen."  
"Sounds like a plan to me." Kandor said happily as Gale nodded as well. Pirko just grumbled, glaring at Que who was giggling in excitement at the idea of going back someplace cold.

"So then when my mom died, I decided to travel around and see the world." Que said as she walked beside Alisha at the back of the group, Hermes leading the way out of the jungle and north toward the forests again.  
"Well I'm sorry your mom died- that must have been tough." Alisha said softly.  
"Well yeah it was, but she wouldn't have wanted me to be sad forever." Que looked up at the trees around her and wiped the sleeve of her silver dress on her sweat-soaked forehead. "This place is pretty, but it's horribly warm. I can't wait until we're someplace cooler." She sighed.  
"You really don't like the heat, do you?" Alisha chuckled.  
"Well I was born in the tundra- I guess you could say I'm a snow rabbit." Que laughed as well, but looked up in interest at a large flower to their right.  
"Hey- check that out." She pointed to the iridescently vibrant flower peeking out from underneath a large fern.  
"Wow, look at the colors on it- I've never seen a flower like that before." Alisha said in wonder as the flower shone from a vibrant red to green depending on the light's reflection on its petals.  
"Neither have I. I wonder what it smells like?" Que said curiously, looking at Alisha.  
"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to stop for a little bit, right? It's only a flower after all…" Alisha trailed off, wanting to get closer to it as well. They looked up as the group continued walking, making sure no one was watching as they slowly walked off the path they were traveling on, over to the flower.  
"What kind of flower is it, do you think?" Que said as she looked down at the iridescent petals which splayed out from a purple stemmed middle.  
"I think it's some sort of lily… or something like that." Alisha looked at it curiously as they both leaned in to try and smell it. The flower suddenly widened its petals more, spraying a fine yellow mist at both Alisha and Que, who coughed and moved back quickly.  
"What was that?" Alisha looked at Que nervously.  
"I don't know, but we should probably catch up with the others." She said uneasily, glancing at the flower as it moved its petals to their normal position. She grabbed Alisha's wrist and ran back over to the others, walking with Alisha at the back of the group again.

"Hey… is Alisha alright?" Pirko muttered to Hermes as he looked over his shoulder, Alisha stumbling slightly as she walked behind them.  
"I don't know- what's wrong with her?" Hermes looked behind them as well, his eyebrows furrowing in concern at her strange behavior.  
"Kandor, you keep going- we're heading north, just stay straight." Hermes said to Kandor before walking to the back of the group, looking down at Alisha as she wobbled on her feet.  
"Well hiiiii there bird boy!" She smiled happily.  
Hermes stared in surprise at the greeting, and looked over to Que, who was also acting the same way.  
"Um… is something wrong, Alisha?" He asked, looking down at her in surprise as she suddenly leaned against him.  
"Nooo, nothing's wrong. I just feel really sleepy. Anyway, I was wondering something- why are the plants here not blue like the grass is? I mean- if the sky is green, why aren't these blue? Makes no sense." She said, as if trying to think of something meaningful.  
"Um, I don't know. Alisha- did you eat something strange?" He gripped her by the shoulders as she laughed against his chest at the question.  
"Nooo, silly. I wouldn't eat anything weird like that." She laughed, poking his chest. "Quit being so silly."  
"Hermes, what's wrong with them?" Irtasu asked as he tried not to wince from Que tugging on his black rabbit ears, laughing giddily.  
"Only one thing can make them act this way…" Hermes looked down at Alisha, his blue eyes wide.  
"Alisha, did you guys mess with a flower earlier? A really colorful one?"  
"Maaaaybe." Alisha giggled. "We wanted to see it closer."  
Hermes groaned in frustration, putting his hand up to his face.  
"What? What did they get into?"  
"It's called the 'Madness flower', but people usually call it the Asila plant. It's a live plant that sprays anyone who gets too close to it with a pollen that makes them go insane."  
"For how long?" Irtasu said in horror, crying out in pain as Que tugged at one of his ears.  
"A couple hours, at least. They won't be able to walk, so we'll have to carry them." Hermes sighed and picked Alisha up, who laughed in excitement as she was turned so that she leaned against Hermes' wings.  
"Hold on, alright Alisha?" He said to her, holding her legs for support.  
"Okay." She smiled down at him and rested her head on his shoulder. Hermes waited until Irtasu picked up Que as well before they walked back to the others to explain the situation.


	15. Chapter 15

Hermes moved a stray branch out of the way as he walked beside Irtasu, holding Alisha against his wings. He tried to look back at her as she sighed against his back, but wasn't able to see her around his wings.  
"Are you alright back there?" He asked as she stayed silent, feeling her bury her face against the feathers of one of his wings.  
"Hermes… do you hate me?" She asked softly, her voice slightly muffled.  
"Hate you? No- why would I hate you?" Hermes looked back again in concern, but still wasn't able to see her.  
"Well, lately you've been ignoring me, and you didn't ask me to the party. Lili said you would, and… well, I guess it kind of hurt that you didn't."  
Hermes sighed in frustration, holding her legs against his sides a little more firmly as he felt her start to slip a little. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings- I didn't ask you because I heard that Pirko asked you. Besides, I'm… not your type." Hermes said uneasily.  
"How do you know?" Alisha looked up at him with a wry smile. "Maybe I like guys with wings."  
"That's not the point." Hermes couldn't help but blush a little, glancing over to Pirko, who was talking with Arya as they walked.  
"Then what is the point?" Alisha brought her arms around his neck, resting her palms against the front of his chest gently.  
Hermes faltered slightly from the sudden touch of her hands against his chest and cleared his throat nervously. "You're the queen, and I'm your guardian. It wouldn't be right."  
Alisha frowned and took her hands back from around his neck. "So you only see me as the queen, then?" She whispered.  
"No, that's not what I meant!" Hermes said in a panic as she slumped against his wings again. He let out a groan of frustration, but paused when he felt something wet run down the feathers of his wing.  
"H-hey, are you alright?" He looked back at her as he felt her hiccup against his back.  
"Watch out!" A loud yell came from the front of the group as a sudden flame started roaring up into the canopy. Hermes stopped along with the group, backing away from the sudden flames in confusion. And then just as sudden as it had appeared, the fire vanished- leaving a singed tree in its place.  
"What the hell just happened?" Pirko said in confusion, looking around the jungle, but seeing no one else but their group.  
"I don't know." Hermes said, keeping quiet for a bit as the group started walking again, but much more cautiously.  
"Alisha?" Hermes felt her gripping the back of his shirt in her fists, as if she were angry. "Are you crying?" He asked in horror. Oh Gods he hadn't made her cry, had he? He hated seeing girls cry… especially her.  
"No." She said, but her voice was nasaly as she sniffed.  
"I'm sorry- I really didn't mean it that way. You're a good person, I just… I'm just a regular guy." He said desperately, realizing what he had felt wet against his feathers must have been her tears.  
"If I were just a normal girl… things would be different. But no- I was born into this, so I guess I have to live with it." She whispered, more to herself than him. She looked back up with a bright tear-stained smile and wrapped her arms back around his neck.  
"So then, have you ever had a girl friend before?" She giggled against his shoulder, her cheek resting against his.  
"Ah-" Hermes' eyes widened in panic at the sudden closeness of her, but tried to regain his composure. "A long time ago- though I wouldn't really call her a 'girl friend', more like a friend who happened to be a girl."  
"Oh, I see. I had a boyfriend like that, though he kind of turned out to be a jerk. I guess I haven't had very good luck with guys- my friend Tammy said it's because I'm too trusting."  
"You are. What was he like?" Hermes asked, trying to distract her long enough for the flower's toxins to make their way through her system. She looked over at Irtasu and Que only to see her running her hands through his hair as she talked softly, Irtasu's eyes wide as he walked stiffly forward.  
"Well, he was nice at first- but he wanted to do things I didn't want to do." Alisha frowned. "He tried to kiss me, but… it wasn't a nice kiss- it hurt."  
Hermes resisted the strange urge to hit something in anger as his feathers ruffled, but he quickly relaxed. "So then what did you do?"  
"Well, I kicked him in the nuts- really hard. He deserved it." Alisha giggled against his neck, making Hermes shiver at the feeling of her breath against his neck.  
"Yeah he did." he said distractedly, shifting Alisha on his back as she started to slip again, making her let out a squeak of surprise at the sudden movement. She laughed against his wing, hiccupping again as she held her arms around Hermes' neck again.  
"Oooooh you're a blond now!" Que yelled, and Hermes stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Irtasu- who had stopped as well to look at himself.  
Irtasu's eyes had changed to a bright green, which were wide in shock as he looked up at his blond hair, pulling down one of his new white black-tipped rabbit ears. "W-what the-?" He whispered, blinking in surprise.  
Que's yell had also stopped the rest of the group to look back at them, who were all also staring in shock at the sight of Irtasu.  
"Okay… now I'm _really_ confused. What's going on?" Gale whispered in surprise.  
"_You're_ confused? I'M A BLOND." Irtasu yelled, gripping a handful of his hair. "How did I change from a shadow? That's impossible!"  
"Um… guys?" Kandor looked up, his eyes blood-red as he looked around the group.  
"Oh my…" Gale whispered, covering her mouth with her hand in surprise.  
Hermes felt Alisha hiccup against his back again, and watched as Irtasu and Kandor returned to their normal colors- Kandor's eyes fading to blue, and Irtasu's hair and ears fading back to black.  
"Woah." Hermes looked over his shoulder at Alisha, who was laughing at something against his wings. "I think Alisha did that."  
"Alisha did it?" Irtasu gasped, staring at Alisha as she looked up in confusion at her name being called.  
"Did what? What happened?" She said drowsily.  
"You turned Irtasu into a Loyalist, and Kandor into a shadow. That isn't supposed to happen."  
"Noooooo." Alisha laughed. "I can't use magic. You're being silly again!" Alisha poked the small patch of skin between Hermes' wings, and paused when he yelled out in surprise, his back arching.  
"What- this?" She poked the area again, making his back arch again, his wings flapping to regain his balance with her on his back.  
"Stop it." He growled in frustration, gritting his teeth as he looked back at her happy smile.  
"Does it hurt?" She said, poking him again, making him step backwards to keep his balance.  
"No- just stop!" Hermes yelled, holding onto her legs tight as he jumped at the feeling of her poking his spine- it was a very sensitive area apparently, and when she poked it, the sensation made his entire body jump in surprise. He didn't like the feeling.  
Pirko watched with amusement as Alisha kept poking Hermes' back, laughing when he kept walking backwards, his wings flapping wildly as he yelled for her to quit poking him. He finally dropped her gently to the ground, hoping she would stay on her feet- but watched as she fell to her knees on the jungle floor, laughing hysterically as he knee scraped hard against a thorned vine. She looked down at the wound in confusion, as if wondering how it had happened.  
"Oh great. Come here." Hermes leaned next to her, ripping off a section of his sleeve to wrap around her bleeding leg. "Don't do that again- seriously. It feels weird." He growled in warning as he picked her up again, hoisting her up against his folded wings.  
"You're nice." She smiled against the soft feathers of his wings, nuzzling them slightly at the feeling. Hermes couldn't help but blush from the motion, wondering how much longer Alisha would be acting like this. Strangely part of him liked it- but most of him was getting tired from her constant teasing.  
"How does your knee feel?" Hermes said, keeping his gaze on the forest ahead of them.  
"My knee?" She asked in confusion.  
"Yes- you just hurt your knee." Hermes explained with irritation, making sure to keep his grip on her legs away from that area.  
"I don't know- I can't feel it." Alisha smiled, reaching up and running a hand through the long feathers of his hair- they were much softer than the feathers that made up his wings- almost like down feathers.  
"Stop that." He growled.  
She took her hand out of his hair, looking at the back of his red, blue and yellow feathered head thoughtfully. "Do you think I'm weird?"  
"Huh?" Hermes looked over his shoulder at her. "No, why?"  
"Well I don't have ears or wings or anything like that- I'm just a human."  
"So? I'm a human with wings and weird hair, really. That's the only difference."  
"That and your soul is split into two." Alisha pointed out.  
"I try not to think about that." Hermes muttered.  
"Have you ever wondered what your shadow is like?"  
"No." Hermes lied, his voice firm.  
Alisha stayed silent from his tone, biting her lip nervously. "Did I make you angry?"  
"No, I just don't like to think that I have an evil version of me running around. It makes me paranoid."  
"Why? He's probably far away right now." Alisha said curiously.  
"A shadow and their light counterpart are constantly drawn to each other. Most people meet their shadow at some time in their life, and whether they live or die depends on their will when they meet them. The weaker one dies and is absorbed into the stronger."  
"So Pirko's will was stronger than his shadow, so he won the fight?"  
"Exactly- which doesn't surprise me much, now that I've gotten to know him better." Hermes said wryly.  
"I feel tired." Alisha sighed, slumping against Hermes' back. Hermes looked back in concern, but sighed in relief when he heard her snore softly against his feather-hair. He continued to walk with the others, trying not to think about the conversation- he was always afraid of meeting his shadow… after all, what if they were stronger?


	16. Chapter 16

"So how much further until we're out of this place?" Irtasu looked over to Hermes as Que slept soundly against his back.  
"Probably another day of traveling and we'll get into the actual forest we were in before."  
"I've never been in any place other than the prison and your city… Before that I was hidden away pretty well."  
Hermes glanced over at the shadow curiously. "You were hidden away? By who?"  
"My grandmother. Asmarath killed both of my parents when I was very young." Irtasu said sadly.  
"Hermes stared at him in shock. "He killed them himself? You've seen him?"  
"Well yeah. My line of family always had a weird trait of having a bit of light." Irtasu pointed toward the white tips of his rabbit ears. "So he tried to wipe us out."  
"I wonder what happens to the other half if a shadow or light dies?" Hermes said thoughtfully.  
~Shadow and light intertwine themselves- if one dies, as does the other half of the soul. Death is a far better fate than living with half a soul.~ a loud voice called over the group, causing them to stop and look around cautiously. ~You travel through my forest and do not bother to say hello? You say hello to my brother and not to me? What am I- chopped liver?~ an annoyed voice hissed from the trees around them.  
"Who is that?" Hermes said warily, looking around as Alisha stirred restlessly against his wings.  
~Who indeed. And who are you who walk on the ground with all the stealth of an overweight elephant? Soul Binders traveling in groups is unusual unless they have some purpose in mind…~  
Hermes looked up as shadows crept among the trees, brandishing long spears that glinted in the sparse sunlight the penetrated the canopy of the jungle. Hooves stomped the ground angrily.  
"We don't mean any harm to you. We just want to get north." Gale said, looking around at the sheer numbers of those surrounding them. There must be dozens of beings lurking in the shadow around them.  
~We shall see.~ The voice said, as a small horse stepped out from the shadows of one tree. It was shabby and wrinkled, its mane course and knotted as it walked forward, looking at them with strangely opaque black eyes- no color to them, not even any white- just a solid black that made Gale shiver. The small horse walked up to Hermes, squinting his eyes warily at Alisha resting against his back.  
~Who is that?~ the horse stomped his hoof against the ground angrily, sending sparks flying against the stones underneath.  
"That's Alisha. She's from the Otherworld, and we're bringing her north to be taught by… well I don't know who's going to teach her, but there's someone in the arctic that can. Sinto told us."  
~Sinto? What's that overgrown gecko got to do with this?~ The horse looked at them warily. ~She's a human! She's not supposed to be in Wonderland you stupid bird- the druids will take her and they'll-~ The horse blinked in surprise at the markings on the side of her cheek, looking down at the markings along his back and noticing they were similar. He looked back and forth for a bit before blinking in surprise, his eyes wide. ~HOLY HORSERADISH.~ He dropped his mouth open in shock. ~What's going on? How is that possible? There are only us- only eight and the two!~ The horse paced in a panic, his eyes wild.  
"She is Sinto and Stardust's daughter." Hermes flinched when the horse let out an even louder yell.  
~DAUGHTER?!~ The horse stormed, his gangly legs shaking in anger.  
"Yes." Hermes said, starting to get frustrated. "Will you let us through?"  
~Perhaps.~ The horse sneered, turning suddenly serious. ~Or perhaps I can go to the druids and tell them of this girl who should not be. They will have a fun time figuring out what to do with her.~  
Hermes heard Pirko let out a low growl of anger behind him and turned blazing eyes at the horse. "You would sentence an innocent girl to death, just for being born?"  
~She was not supposed to be born, stupid bird. She disrupts the balance. No wonder Asmarath is so powerful and her mother is so weak.~ The horse let out a strange growling noise. ~I will have to discuss this with the others. You will stay here until Brushfeather arrives.~ The horse said firmly, looking around at those among the trees and nodding once. They finally came out of the shadows, and the group watched as dozens of centaurs, each holding a spear and a bow slung over their shoulder, a full quiver of bows on each back. Pirko and Hermes glanced at each other before following the centaurs deeper into the forest, knowing there was no chance of fighting their way out of this situation.

"This is stupid." Pirko growled as they sat in a large tent, centaur guards at the door.  
"I agree, but there's nothing we can do- there are far too many to try and escape." Hermes sighed, holding Alisha against his chest to try and keep her warm- for the past hour she had begun to shiver in her sleep, even though the rest of them were sweating in the hot jungle heat.  
"How's she doing?" Pirko looked at Alisha in concern, her face pale against Hermes' shoulder.  
"I don't know." Hermes looked down at her, moving a lock of air from her sweaty forehead. Pirko frowned at the small touch, but stayed quiet.  
"I'll heal her as soon as the world stops spinning." Que muttered from across the tent, holding her head with her eyes tightly shut.  
Hermes nodded and looked back down at Alisha when she stirred against him, her eyes opening drowsily.  
"Where are we?" She asked, sitting up. She saw it was Hermes she had been leaning against and looked away uneasily, her pale face coloring slightly with a blush.  
"We're in a centaur camp. Phooka is holding us here until he can talk with Brushfeather."  
"Phooka?" Alisha said in confusion.  
"Yeah- another sorcerer I'm guessing Probably why he wants to talk with Brushfeather." Pirko said thoughtfully, though he was relieved Alisha was back to acting normal.  
"Then why is he keeping us here?" she grumbled.  
"He doesn't think that-" Pirko started, but stopped when he saw Hermes' suddenly dark glare over Alisha's head. "That you should go on without knowing where shadow camps may be along the way." He finished awkwardly.  
"He could just tell us." Alisha grumbled again, crossing her arms in frustration but arching her back slightly as another shiver slid down her spine.  
"Why am I so cold?" She said through clenched teeth, which threatened to chatter if she opened her mouth.  
"I don't know." Hermes looked at her in concern, and pushed her shoulders back so that she was leaning against him again. "You need to stay warm." He explained, looking down at her surprised expression.  
"Alright." She flushed again and looked away, glancing at Pirko's dark expression and quickly looked away.  
The group sat in silence for a bit, listening to the bustling people outside.  
"What if you have to go to the bathroom?" Alisha whispered sheepishly.  
Hermes looked down at her in surprise, and looked toward the opening of the tent. "I suppose we could ask." He said, pushing Alisha away slightly so that he could stand and walk over to the guards.  
"Excuse me." He said politely, and one of the guards turned his way, his tawny hair wild against his shoulders.  
"What?" He said curiously, looking Hermes over with interested eyes- it was obvious he had never seen anything like him before.  
"My friend needs to… uh… relieve herself. Is there a place to do that?" Hermes said uneasily. The male centaur guard pranced in place a bit, turning uneasy as well.  
"The forest?" He answered, pointing toward the jungle behind the tent.  
"It'll have to do. She's not used to… traveling through the jungle. Thank you." Hermes walked back over toward Alisha, explaining the situation to her.  
"I have to pee behind a bush?" She gasped in horror and gasped when everyone looked up at her in surprise. She frowned at Hermes' wry smile as she stood and stormed toward the entrance.  
"Hey-" Hermes grabbed her hand and pulled her back, closer to him. "Be nice to the guards- they're the only people treating us at least relatively well since Phooka put us in here."  
Alisha glanced at the guards at the entrance to the tent and nodded slightly before walking toward them, more casually.  
"This is her- I will stay with you while she goes so that you know we will come back." Hermes said to the centaur, who looked pleased at the idea.  
"Sure." He said, pointing with his spear at a small clearing in the forest behind a grove of bushes. "Will that do?"  
Alisha resisted balking at the idea and nodded stiffly. She walked off into the jungle while the centaur and Hermes remained. turning away to give her more privacy.  
"So, she is a sorceress?" The centaur raised an eyebrow curiously. "It is odd that she is not in a mystic form. Isn't there a law against her being human?"  
"She's not actually from this world. I brought her here from the Otherworld." Hermes explained simply, but the centaur snorted in shock.  
"You were in the Otherworld?" He gasped. "What was it like?"  
"Very different- they have technology instead of magic- it is… complicated." Hermes said thoughtfully. A heavy silence fell between the two as they waited, the centaur picking at the tip of his spear idly.  
"So what is your name, soul binder? I know you are the girl's guardian by the way you protect her."  
Hermes looked up in surprise but decided that it was rather obvious. "My name is Hermes. Yours?" He looked up at the centaur, deciding that behind the small beard at the bottom of his chin and the scraggly hair he must be rather young.  
"My name is Tuso, son of Kiln." The centaur nodded in greeting, his hoof scraping the ground lightly.  
"Nice to meet you. The girl's name is Alisha, if you're wondering. She's probably going to be pretty shy around you. She's never seen a centaur before."  
"Never?" Tuso looked at him in interest. "She is surely from another world then- our numbers are great across Wonderland."  
"I know- more than even my race of people. But, all she has ever seen before coming here were humans- with no magic. She does not even believe she has magic." Hermes sighed.  
"A sorceress who does not know magic? That is a dangerous situation." the centaur said darkly.  
"I agree- we are bringing her north to train her in fire magic. One of our group knows a sorcerer up there."  
"If she is the 11th sorceress, what is to become of her once the druids find out?" The centaur said thoughtfully. "Surely they won't kill her. It against their way of thinking."  
"No, but… if she's turned into a mystic…" Hermes said, his chest twisting at the idea. He couldn't imagine the agony Alisha would go through knowing she would never be able to return back home- or even talk for that matter. "They can't find out about her." he said firmly.  
The centaur looked down at him, a smile creeping onto his face. "You care for the girl?"  
"I'm her guardian- of course I care." Hermes said simply.  
"No- that is not what I meant." The centaur's smile widened.  
"Oh." Hermes said in shocked realization. "Um…" He looked back as Alisha came toward them, the centaur sighing at her approach. He had obviously wanted an answer.  
"Well, that's done." She said with a flat tone. "I hope the leaf I used wasn't poisonous.  
"Doubtful. There are few plants around her like that. We try to destroy them before the fauns and colts play too far in the woods." The centaur explained, and Alisha looked up at him for the first time. He was huge- between his horse half and his human upper torso- he must have been 9 feet tall. She stared at him with wide eyes for a minute before blinking when she caught his wry smile.  
"You were right- that is… endearing." The centaur laughed as Alisha blushed in embarrassment, looking to Hermes' amused smile.


	17. Chapter 17

Hermes and Alisha looked up as a shadow passed over them, relieved to see the griffin circling in the air before landing on the ground below, the centaurs quickly moving to make room for him.  
"PHOOKA." The griffin yelled loudly, an edge of a bird's call on his enraged voice. Brushfeather's feathers and fur bristled angrily as he looked around for the horse among the centaur.  
"I'm over here, calm down." the voice from earlier called out, a centaur walking through the groups of centaurs and stopping in front of Brushfeather. "Why are you so angry?" He crossed his arms angrily, his white hair falling over his shoulders. His eyes remained the same- the strange solid black.  
"Where are they? Where is the girl?" The griffin said, a low growl coming from his throat with the words. "You have gone too far, brother."  
"Have I?" Phooka said with a hostile tone. "You know about her- you knew she was Caitlin and Bryan's daughter- and yet you did nothing." He said, one of his silver hooves stomping the ground below him.  
"You are destroying the line of events, Phooka." The griffin said in a dangerously low tone. "Has the darkness taken you so deeply that you no longer care for the future?"  
Phooka paused at that, his face stricken as he glanced over to Alisha and Hermes, still standing next to the large tent where the rest were being held. "The line of events... I see." He said quietly, his eyes lightening slightly to a strange silver tone, darkening once again to black. "Have I really fallen that far, Nicholas?" he asked, his voice racked with pain. "I did not know."  
"You will be fine once you rid yourself of the dark magic, Rhys. I can see it clinging to you while you're in that form. You know that shape changing is a dangerous and dark magic to use- especially that of your human form." Brushfeather said more gently.  
Phooka nodded sadly and his form shrank and contorted within a black glow, until a silver fox stood in front of Brushfeather, its many tails laying against the ground behind it sadly. "Is Caitlin well? I heard Asmarath captured her."  
"Bryan rescued her and brought her to Cleo and Alexander. I'm sure she will be healed soon."  
Alisha couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief as she listened, staying silent as one of the fox's tails flicked behind him as he nodded.  
"Are the events changed?" He asked, looking up at Brushfeather with silver eyes.  
"Yes, but not for the worse. You did not destroy them, brother." Brushfeather said griffin looked up at Alisha and Hermes, noticing them for the first time. "How are you, little one?"  
"I'm okay." Alisha blushed at the sudden attention from everyone around her.  
"Good. Do you know the way you have to travel to get to the tundra?" Brushfeather said, his voice gentle as he talked.  
"Uh... north, right?" She said uneasily.  
The griffin let out a small chirp of laughter. "Perhaps I should lead you through the forest until the direction is easier." Brushfeather looked back down at Phooka with sad eyes. "We will be discussing this further later on, brother. There is much that I am worried about in this world. Wonderland is falling into darkness much more quickly than I thought possible, and we must know the reasons why."

Darkness fell on the small world, such as Asmarath loved it. The great black serpent looked around him, the frills on either side of his head raising in anger as he waiting for his summoned to arrive. They were late.  
"He is here, your majesty." A shadow at the end of the long hall of the throne room said into the door, opening it and shoving inside someone, who turned around to glare at the door as it shut. The bird shadow walked down the long dark hall, his strides stiff with anxiety as he neared Asmarath.  
"You called, your majesty?" He said, leaning onto one knee when he finally came into the light- he was the splitting image of Hermes- except his wings and hair were different shades of black gray and blue, and his red eyes glowed when they looked up at the dragon expectantly.  
"Yes, Sintark. I have need of your... presence." The dragon smiled wryly, fangs flashing in the minimal light. "It seems that brat of a girl is being guarded by your light counterpart." He said, leaving the rest of what he needed to be guessed at.  
"You wish me to kill him?" The shadow bowed his head again, and the dragon sighed in frustration.  
"No- bind with him, and take him over. Your will is stronger than his. I have seen him- he is weak, frail, and a coward."  
Sintark remained silent for a bit before looking back up. "Very well- do you know where he is?"  
"They are heading north along the forest road toward the tundra. They wish to have the fire master there teach the girl magic." Asmarath snorted in amusement. "As if that will matter once I finally capture her. She'll wish she had never been born."

Hermes looked over to Alisha as she they stood in front of Phooka, still in his kitsune form.  
"I am sorry I caused you so much trouble." The kitsune said sadly. "I honestly do not know what came over with me- however much of a weak excuse that is."  
"You're fine." Alisha smiled, leaning down so she was closer to eye level with him. "it was only one day, it's not a big deal."  
The kitsune smiled as he looked up at her. "You have your mother's eyes. I wish you well on your journey, and don't hesitate to send for me if you need someone to help you. I will come as quickly as I am able to."  
"Alright, Phooka." Alisha nodded and stood back up. "We're off then? Hopefully things will go smoother from now on." She said thoughtfully, ignoring Hermes' chuckle from beside her.

"What's going on out there?" Pirko watched as Hermes and Alisha walked back into the tent, the centaur guards behind them.  
"Phooka is letting us go." Hermes said in relief. "Brushfeather will guide us back to the trail and through the forest."  
"However, we have to make one stop for him. Apparently the gargoyles have a problem only he can fix." Alisha added.  
"Maybe we can convince them to join the fight too. Now that the centaurs saw what happened with Phooka, they want to help." Hermes said with an eager smile.  
"Indeed. If our leader is being corrupted by whatever evil Asmarath is creating, we will destroy it and make the lands safe for all." Tuso said confidently from behind Alisha, making her jump at the sudden closeness of him.  
Pirko nodded, looking over to Hermes in pleasant surprise. "Looks like getting support is going to be easier than we thought."

Asmarath watched Sintark leave before returning to his work. A small mound of white furred tissue lay on a small black ornate table front of him. Asmarath sighed, relaxing himself before raising a claw above it, which flexed as he concentrated.  
Chanting in foreign tongues, he felt the changes begin slowly- then quickening as his chanting grew louder. His body shrank from its snake-like coil around the large throne room, his spine shortening as his arms and legs grew in length and strength. A mane of black hair sprouted from between his two horns, and the hair grew until it fell around his shoulders. When he stopped the spell he looked down at himself, smiling in satisfaction. He was not standing on two legs, his anatomy fairly human-like except for the black scales covering his body and some remaining draconian features.  
"Excellent." he said with a smile. "Now all I need is that girl."


	18. Chapter 18

Brushfeather stopped at a part of the trail that was rimmed with brightly colored stones, turning back toward the group.  
"Now, before the enter the gargoyle territory, I just need to mention something we'll have to watch for. None of the females here should stray too far on their own. The problem I'm fixing with the gargoyles is that their current gender ratio is a little… off. There are far more males being born per generation than females, and it's making things difficult for them. But- just to be safe, every female should stick close to a male, and the males should watch over them."  
"You should have mentioned this before." Hermes muttered, moving closer to Alisha beside him.  
"I thought it would be alright with you." Brushfeather tilted his head in confusion, which looked very odd with his eagle head.  
"I don't see why it's a problem, do you?" Alisha looked up at Hermes curiously.  
Hermes muttered, but kept quiet as Pirko frowned as well behind him.

"So, here we are." Brushfeather looked through the clearing at the end of the tail. Alisha gasped in surprise at the sight- hundreds of small log homes sat nestled within the branches of great oak and pine trees. Like the grass of wonderland, the leaves of the trees were a pale blue, offset by the green sky behind them. After being in the thick jungle for so long, Alisha had forgotten about the strange color of the sky.  
A metallic being soared above them on bat-like wings, looking down with a surprised expression before turning around so that he was flying back toward the village to tell the others of the arrivals.  
Soon a much larger metallic being started walking down the trail toward them on claws feet, which dug into the ground when he stopped in front of them. Large horns sprouted from his forehead, and his wings fell around his shoulders like a silver cape. Black hair fell around his face and down his shoulders. His yellow eyes settled on Brushfeather as he frowned slightly. "You did not tell me you were bringing women." he said with a gruff voice.  
"They are traveling north- I am merely their guide. There won't be a problem, will there?" Brushfeather said, his voice low.  
"No, though they are desperate, the men will not go mindless." The gargoyle said uneasily.  
"Good, now I have a solution to your problem Garku, but it may take some time to carry out…" Brushfeather started walking with the gargoyle through the city, the rest of the group following being warily.

"I don't like this." Pirko whispered to Hermes as they sat in a large house in the largest tree of the city- dozens of gargoyles of varying shades and sizes sat around them drinking and conversing, but also watching the newcomers with interest.  
"I don't either, but there's nothing we can do- just keep Arya close." ermes whispered back, glancing over to make sure Alisha was still by him. She was, sipping her drink and trying to avoid the stares.  
"They're just curious." Alisha said quietly, but met the eyes of a particularly rough looking gargoyle who was staring at her intently. She shivered slightly and looked away uneasily.  
Hermes looked in the direction she had turned from and frowned again. "I still feel uncomfortable. They're looking at you strangely."  
"They're checking her out is what they're doing." Arya smirked. "What, you don't like it, Hermes?"  
Hermes' frown deepened. "Is that what they're doing?" Hermes muttered, fighting the sudden urge to take Alisha away and hide her from the preying eyes of these gargoyles.  
Arya simply chuckled at his reaction, looking to Pirko's serious face."You two are always so serious. Cheer up!" She yanked on Pirko's ears, making him yelp in pain before glaring at her.  
"Well either way, you shouldn't worry about it too much." Alisha shrugged. "I'm a human, after all. I'm not even close to their species."  
Hermes looked at her uneasily for a minute before going back to drinking from the glass in front of him, cringing at the sour taste.

Alisha walked next to Hermes through the trees of the city, starting to get annoyed by the constant presence of his scowl. He was being so overprotective- keeping her from talking to any of the gargoyles around her, even though she really wanted to talk to some of the women.  
"Psssst!" Alisha heard from the forest to her left, looking over to see Arya motioning her over from behind a large tree, hiding when Hermes looked that way.  
"Uh…" Alisha looked at Hermes uneasily as he raised an eyebrow curiously. "I need to go to the bathroom real quick, okay?" She said uneasily.  
"Oh." Hermes said, his eyes widening in realization. "Go ahead." He said, and turned around from the forest to give her more privacy. Alisha ran over behind the tree Arya was hiding behind, and looked at her in confusion.  
"We haven't really had a chance to talk alone since the dance, so I figured while Pirko's searching for me this would be a good time." Arya glanced around them to see if Pirko was coming or not before continuing.  
"At the dance, you know that Hermes wanted to ask you, right?"  
Alisha looked at her skeptically. "Then why didn't he?"  
"Because Pirko had already asked you, and had told him. I don't think he wanted to make Pirko angry or put you into an awkward situation." Arya smiled wryly. "He's got a super crush on you."  
Alisha scoffed in disbelief, but glanced toward Hermes thoughtfully. "Yeah right- he doesn't even have many emotions while he's around me. Most of the time he's just tense."  
"That's because he doesn't know how to act around you." Arya's grin widened. "Just keep an eye open, is all I'm saying. Don't rule him out quite yet."  
"ARYA!" Pirko's voice yelled angrily through the forest, making Arya chuckle.  
"I've gotta fly- but remember what I said." She said, and dashed deeper into the forest yelling. "Oh man, this is fun!" and laughing.  
Alisha watched Arya run off and couldn't help but snicker at Arya's teasings to Pirko. She really was giving him a hard time, running and hiding like she was when he was supposed to keep an eye on her.  
She was too busy thinking to notice the metallic hand creeping toward her from the shadows, until it lashed out, covering her mouth to muffle her yell of surprise. She looked at Hermes' back with wide terror-filled eyes before her captor's other hand brought up a wet cloth over her nose, and the world when black.

Alisha woke up with a groan of pain as her head spun, the room she was in fading and wobbling in her vision before becoming clear. It was a sparsely decorated tree house with only a bed and a few chairs- one of which she was tied to. She moved her hands in experiment and found them not only bound to each other, but also bound to the chair. Her ankles were also bound to the chair with thick rope. She tried to mutter something to herself, and found herself gagged with some sort of cloth as well. She looked in horror at the gargoyle across the room, who was turned away from her, distracted by something else. She tried to move the chair toward the door of the house, but flinched when the wood scraped loudly against the floor. The gargoyle turned around, his yellow eyes bright when he looked at her.  
"Ah, good." He smiled, his expression slightly crazed. Alisha couldn't help but whimper at the sight of the slightly insane look to him, and wondered what he wanted with her.  
"So, I'm nearly finished with it, my dear." The gargoyle held up the strange looking tiara in his hand, the swirling silver lines of the metal meeting toward the sides of the head piece. "When I'm done you and I will be bound together as mates- forever." He said happily. "I've put a special spell in it- just for you." He smiled warmly down at her.  
Alisha looked up at him with wide eyes- was he serious?! She struggled against her chair, but found herself bound too tightly for her to move much.  
"I'm sorry I had to do that, dear. But this is the only way I could get you away from that wretched bird long enough to complete the ritual." He gasped in happiness and held up the completed tiara, holding it up for examination. "Once I put this on you- you'll forget all about him. Our life together will begin, and I'll have a mate to call my own." he glanced over to her with a smirk. "You're lucky I chose you. I was thinking of taking that bat-girl instead, but she seems too." he thought for a minute- "harsh. You, on the other hand- are a kind woman. I can tell by the way you talk to people."  
Alisha stared at the tiara in his hands, her eyes widening as he approached. If he put that on her… she'd lose all memory of her experiences- and she'd forget she was even from earth, and that she had met Hermes… she'd forget all her new friends, and even worse her new mother and father. She struggled with all her might against the chair, ignoring the singing smell of wood underneath her hands.  
"Now, hold still." The gargoyle gritted his fangs in frustration as she moved her head around to keep him from touching her. Her hands suddenly became unbound, and she tasted ashes in her mouth as she yelled in anger, rage filling her as her eyes glowed a bright red, the glow flowing down her body so that when he touched her, the metal of the tiara melted against her slap, causing the metal to run down her hair in metallic streaks of liquid. He yelled in horror as his arms caught on fire, flailing them in the air desperately, but only making the flames grow and creep up his skin until his entire body was enflamed.  
Alisha watched in horror, the rage draining from her as she saw him thrash against the walls of the house, his screams terrifyingly agonized as he burned. She realized what she had done and flinched from the sight, tears burning her eyes.

Hermes had waited long enough. Regardless of what 'way' she had to go, she was taking too long. He heard a scream of agony and turned in the direction of the houses to see flames pouring from the door of one of the wooden houses. His heart nearly stopped as realization hit him- Alisha must be there. With a loud curse he ran as fast as he could toward the area, his heart sinking into his stomach at the thought of what had happened to her while he was distracted. With a running leap he took to the air, his large wings flapping furiously to get him as quickly toward the door of the burning house as fast as he could. He hesitated at the heat of the flames beating at him before bursting into the door, looking around to see Alisha huddled in the corner of the room, tears streaming down her face as she stared at the charred body on the floor at the other side of the room.


	19. Chapter 19

Ignoring the flames licking at his skin, Hermes ran over to Alisha, scooping her up in his arms and running toward the door, bursting through the flames as quickly as he could to avoid having them burned. He looked down to see Brushfeather putting a front claw against the tree, the wood suddenly turning to stone- putting the fire out quickly when the fuel was gone. The tree returned to wood, which was black with char. He felt Alisha's grip on his shirt tighten as she sobbed into his shoulder, his heart twisting in pain at seeing her suffering. He ignored the stares of others as he landed on the ground softly, holding her tightly within his arms.  
"Alisha?" He asked softly, hating to see her in such pain. She made no reaction to his voice, which made him worry even more. He looked her over to see burns over her arms and looked around for Que and Irtasu among the chaos of the people gathering to see what had happened.  
He spotted her rabbit ears through the crowd and walked quickly over to her, looking down at Alisha before glancing at Que pleadingly.  
"Bring her over here." Que said softly as Irtasu looked at Alisha in concern. She walked toward a more quiet part of the clearing, having Hermes sit on the ground and hold Alisha while Que healed her.  
"So what happened?" Que whispered as she did her work, burning Alisha's burns.  
"I don't know. She said she was going to the bathroom, and then I found her in that burning house." Hermes said, his voice gruff with emotion. The sight of her crying was making him ache. "She won't say anything."  
Que sighed softly in worry, continuing to heal Alisha has Brushfeather approached.  
"Is she alright?" The griffin asked, his eyes bright as he looked down at Alisha in Hermes' arms.  
"I don't know. She won't tell me what happened- she just keeps crying." Hermes looked to the griffin for advice, but the griffin frowned suddenly. Brushfeather looked up suddenly at Hermes, is eyes filled with terror.  
"Do not let go of her- take care of her, and I will be back by this night's end." The griffin said hurriedly before running and leaping into the air, using his great winds to propel himself high into the sky.  
Hermes watched him leave in confusion and let Que finish healing Alisha's burns before jumping and flying up to his private room in a large housing structure in the trees. He closed the door behind him firmly and sat on the ground with Alisha settled in his lap as he wondered what he should do to try and calm her down.  
"What happened, Alisha?" Hermes said quietly, moving her hair from her face as she finally stopped sobbing.  
"I didn't mean to." She whispered desperately, her eyes wide as she looked up at him. Hermes froze, wondering how someone could look even more pretty after they had been crying.  
"Didn't mean to what?" He insisted, moving her so that she was settled against his shoulder, and was easier to talk to.  
"I killed him- I burned him alive." She shuddered, her eyes filling with tears again. "He screamed for mercy, Hermes. I- I couldn't stop it!" She gasped as she tried to keep from crying again at the horrible memory.  
Hermes sighed and hugged her tightly to his chest comfortingly, smiling in relief when she let out a soft sigh instead of crying again. "It was an accident, Alisha. I know you didn't mean to do that- and everyone else will know too. Why did he even bring you up there? You were supposed to be in the forest so I could watch you." He said, a pang of pain running through him at the thought that he had let her get hurt again. He wasn't turning out to be a good guardian after all- maybe Pirko had been right…  
"He took me so that he could make me his mate. He made this crown or tiara or whatever it was, that would erase my memories." She looked up at him desperately. "I didn't want to forget- I just found out who my real parents are- what I really am, and I didn't want to forget you." She whispered, looking down uneasily. "Or the others." She added hurriedly.  
Hermes feathers ruffled in anger as he bared his teeth, tightening his grip on her protectively. "I do not know what I would have done if that had happened." He said simply, sounding lost and confused.  
Alisha looked up as the sound of creaking wood told that the tree was somehow moving. She looked up to see Hermes' eyes glowing slightly as he used his magic to twist the tree around the doors and windows so that no one could barge in.  
"I like how your eyes glow when you use magic." Alisha smiled weakly up to Hermes. He looked down at her in surprise, but smiled warmly.  
"Your eyes glow as well. Are you feeling better, then?" Hermes watched her expression as it crumbled slightly at the reminder of what had happened.  
"A little." She whispered, her voice breaking slightly. "I'm still scared- I've never seen anything that horrible before. I know I'll have nightmares tonight about it."  
"I will be here to help you, if you do." He said, running a hand through her hair cautiously- waiting for her reaction. She smiled and closed her eyes at the warmth of his hand against her cheek.  
"Do you remember what I said when you were under the Madness Flower's effect?" He said softly, fascinated at how soft her red hair was- it felt like silk in his hand.  
"No, I don't remember much of what happened from then." Alisha blushed slightly.  
"You thought that I hated you- that you had been hurt when I didn't ask you to the dance in the city."  
"I said that?" Alisha's blush deepened.  
"Yes. The Asila plant has an odd ability of making someone always tell the truth while they're under its effect."  
"What else did I say?" Alisha said, looking away in case it was something bad.  
"You said you liked guys with wings." Hermes chuckled at her wide eyes. "And I'll repeat what I said then as well- I don't hate you, Alisha. I found out that Pirko had already asked you."  
"But you didn't say that." Alisha looked down uneasily. "I just thought you didn't like me enough to want to go with me."  
Hermes sighed, bringing her closer to him. "You're a sorceress, Alisha- the most powerful being in this world. I'm just a regular guy- without even a whole soul in me."  
"I don't care." Alisha looked up at him in worry. "You're a great guy- even with only half a soul. That doesn't matter to me. I… I love you, Hermes and… I hope you do too." She lowered her head again, waiting for the rejection she knew was going to come. She heard him hiss in surprise, a dead silence falling between them as his hand stopped running through her hair.  
She gasped in surprise as he put his hand on her cheek firmly, twisting her head so that she face him while he brought his lips down to hers in a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him back, looking at him in wonder as he moved away from her slightly.  
"This is crazy." He put his forehead against hers with a sigh. "I'm going to get into such trouble for this."  
"Trouble? Why?" Alisha smiled, loving the feel of the soft feathers of his hair.  
"Because, Alisha- sorcerers are supposed to marry sorcerers. Soul Binders marry Soul Bingers. That's how it usually goes, anyway."  
"But I don't have a sorcerer to marry- I'm the only one not turned into a mystic. Besides- you said yourself, you're just a human with wings and weird hair."  
"I thought you said you couldn't remember anything from that?" Hermes blinked in surprise, looking down at her as she chuckled.  
"I said I can't remember _much_." She corrected, poking him on the nose playfully.  
Hermes stayed silent for a minute before sighing, a wry smile coming over his face. "I suppose you're right. It's not like I can stop what's happening anyway." He shrugged and kissed her again, just because he could. They both laughed happily as Hermes held her within his arms, his wings folding around her so that they draped against the ground.  
"And to think, just a little while ago I was wondering what my mom would think of my test in high school." Alisha sighed, leaning her head against Hermes' shoulder. "I'd still like to see mom again, but… I don't know how I could go back and live there now."  
Hermes frowned slightly, a sliver of pain running through his happiness. "I hadn't thought about that. You could always go back without me."  
"Yeah right!" Alisha laughed. "Besides, I have magic now. It's not your fault." Alisha looked up to see his frown and sighed, reaching up to force the corners of his mouth up into a smile. "Don't be so serious. I like it here."  
"But… you no longer want to go home?" He said uneasily.  
"Of course I do." Alisha whispered. "But not to live there. I don't really fit in on earth anymore."  
Hermes looked away for a minute. "I'm sorry I forced you out of your world. You would have stayed a normal girl if I had not brought you here."  
"And I wouldn't have met you." she argued. "Something would have happened eventually, Hermes. Magic can't be contained forever- I learned that today. What you did was for the best- and I'll never regret meeting you."  
"I do not regret meeting you either, Alisha. I just wonder if you would have been happier as a normal high school girl."  
"And miss all this excitement? Besides, now I've got a great boyfriend, lots of friends to help me out, and even my real mom and dad. Maybe I can make a difference in this world. I never would have made any difference back on earth. Like you said- I was a normal high school girl. I want to help the people here, and make things better."  
Hermes smiled down at her warmly, tightening his embrace around her. "You really are an angel, you know that? Alright, if you insist it was for the best, I'll believe you. I just want what's best for you." Hermes looked up at the darkening sky between the branches of the tree covering the windows. "Now, we should get some rest. Everyone will want to know how you are tomorrow."  
"Alright." Alisha smiled and moved away from him before laying down on the floor, using her arms to cushion her head. "You'll wake me up if I have a nightmare, right?"  
"Of course. I'll be here for you- now good night, angel." Hermes said, smiling as he watched her fall asleep. His entire body felt alive with happiness and excitement- was this what it felt like to be in love? He closed his eyes and fell into a light sleep beside Alisha, draping one of his wings over her to keep her warm.


	20. Chapter 20

Alisha woke to the sound of a thump against the wood floor of the tree house they were in. She looked up to see Hermes climbing through the door, carrying a bag of food in one of his arms, his great wings folding against his back as he walked forward. She sat up in confusion as she heard the bustle of voices outside the tree house as Hermes moved the vines back over the door to keep intruders out.  
"What time is it?" Alisha asked, her voice gruff from a long sleep.  
Hermes looked over to her with a soft smile. "I woke you many times during the night because of your dreams. I thought you may want to sleep longer this morning, so I got you some lunch as well." He watched her yawn and stretch, chuckling when he realized how cute she looked with her hair tousled and her eyes droopy.  
"Thanks." Alisha smiled. Hermes brought the food over to her, sitting beside her and taking things out of the bag.  
"Unfortunately things were pretty picked over- but I convinced them to make you a few things too." Hermes handed her a strange round purple object, about the size of his palm. "Try this- I think you'll like it. It's called Piki- and it's my favorite." Hermes took another out of the bag and ate it happily, a soft hum of approval coming from him as he chewed.  
Alisha looked down at her own small purple lump of dough, turning it around in her hand curiously- it was squishy, almost like it hadn't been baked. She bit into it, surprised when it tasted like a mixture of kiwi and watermelon.  
"That is good." She smiled, and Hermes grinned back happily.  
"I got some other things for you to try too. I figured since you'll be here a while, you should get used to some of the food in Wonderland."  
He set out a small buffet for her to try, a little of each pile of strangely colored foods- ranging from bright green to black. One fruit was even yellow with pink spikes.  
She tried each of them, putting down the black and yellow one with an expression of disgust as he laughed- it tasted like black liquorice jelly beans. She liked most of it though- and looked up at Hermes thoughtfully while he watched her eat.  
"Are you trying to distract me from what happened?" She asked softly.  
Hermes blinked in confusion and looked at the ground uneasily. "I just don't want to see you unhappy."  
Alisha smiled softly, putting the fruit down she had in her hand. "I thought about what you said earlier- and you were right. There was no way to change what happened, and he did attack me. I suppose I did it in… self defense." She faltered, wondering if it was still self defense if the person you killed had begged you to stop. She closed her eyes as the gargoyle's screams rang through her mind.  
"Alisha…" Hermes moved closer, wrapping his arms around her comfortingly. "Don't worry about it- you did the only thing you could. Gargoyle magic is very strong- I do not know if I would have been able to get you back if he had succeeded." Hermes thought of what that would have been like and tightened his grip on her protectively. "I don't want to lose you."  
"You won't." Alisha smiled, resting her head against his shoulder. "But… we should probably get back to the others. It's getting late, isn't it?"  
Hermes sighed, releasing her and leaning back. "You're right. They are probably desperate to know how you are doing. They were all very worried. Especially Que and Pirko." Hermes froze, wondering how Pirko would react to him with Alisha. He would have to deal with that when it came.  
"Alright, let's face the mob." Alisha sighed, standing. Hermes cleaned the rest of the food on the floor into the bag, setting it in the corner for later. He walked over to Alisha as she stood by the door, waving a hand to move the branches away from the outside of the tree house.  
"Are you ready to face this?" Hermes looked down at her.  
"Yeah- I think so." She said uneasily, looking down at the crowd that had gathered underneath their tree.  
"Alright." Hermes wrapped an arm around her waist, moving her closer and leaning down to kiss her gently before opening his wings and drifting down toward those below them.  
Hermes set Alisha down gently, looking around him at the concerned faces of the group. His hand lingered around Alisha's waist, and the small touch did not go unnoticed. Pirko frowned as Arya grinned, but the rest stayed silent.  
"So, are you okay?" Que asked, looking Alisha over for any injuries.  
"Yeah- I am now." Alisha said uneasily. "A gargoyle wanted to make me his wife by erasing my memories. I… um… stopped him, I guess. I didn't mean to kill him though." She looked down to the ground sadly. She was still having a hard time with the memory of the gargoyle's screams.  
"We know you meant no harm. There is no shame in defending yourself." The gargoyle chief, Garku, walked forward with an uneasy expression. "Raksho was not known for being so conniving- but that does not mean he did not have the capacity to be. I apologize for letting this happen."  
"You're fine, you didn't know." Alisha smiled reassuringly. Garku smiled back in relief, and nodded slightly.  
"So then-" Brushfeather walked over behind Garku, looking toward Alisha. "Are you ready to travel more? Or would you like more time to rest?"  
"I think I'm fine." Alisha nodded.  
"Excellent. We will head north, then." Brushfeather said before turning and walking out of the gargoyle's camp. The chief waved his farewell, still uneasy from the past events.

"So we're getting closer, then?" Irtasu asked Que, walking through the light coating of snow that now covered the forest floor.  
"Yeah, close. A ways away still though." Que said, relief filling her as she raised her face up to the cold snow falling, a small smile coming over her face.  
"You like the cold a lot, huh?" Irtasu grinned at the gesture.  
"Yeah. I grew up in the snow, so I'm used to it."  
Hermes grumbled behind her, his arms wrapped around himself in an attempt to keep warm.  
"You'll get used to it, bird." Pirko snorted. "Don't be such a wuss."  
Hermes glared at Pirko, but continued to walk silently beside Alisha. Brushfeather had left them again to attend to more urgent matters. Apparently a sorcerer's work was never done. Que was now leading the way north.  
Alisha looked to Pirko in confusion. He and Hermes had been getting along so well lately. Why was Pirko being so hostile now?  
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Hermes said to her quietly at her concern.  
"Why is…?"  
"He's a sore loser." Hermes said quickly, and made a wide grin.  
Alisha blushed and looked over toward Pirko again, who was glowering fiercely at Hermes.  
"I didn't mean to start a fight." Alisha sighed. "It seems no matter what I do, someone will be unhappy."  
"You can't make everyone happy all the time, Alisha. You'll wind up killing yourself trying."  
Alisha nodded, looking over to her right. "Did you hear that?" She whispered.  
"Yeah, I did." Pirko muttered. He held a hand out, making the group stop as he took a few steps forward cautiously.  
"Well well. What do we have here?" A low, raspy voice said, as a large dragon came through the trees, his black scales glinting in the sunlight through the trees. "Soul Binders? And…" The dragon stared at Alisha, tilting its head curiously. "A human?"  
Irtasu stiffened, looking at the dragon with wide, fearful eyes. "Que." He whispered, nudging her to get her attention. "We have to run. Or try to run, I should say."  
"Why?" Que whispered back in confusion. "He seems nice enough."  
"And what is your name, small one?" The dragon looked down toward Hermes and Alisha.  
"No, don't!" Irtasu yelled as Alisha said her name. The dragon smiled, its white teeth sharp and menacing. "Excellent. Asmarath will be pleased with what I have found."  
Hermes moved Alisha behind him, raising his hands to readily defend them as the Dragon approached. "What, you think you'll poke me with your thorns, Hermes?" The dragon laughed at Hermes's surprised expression. "Asmarath has let it be known who is traveling with the 'chosen one' as you call her. More like an abomination of nature, if you ask me. She should never had been born." The dragon hissed, smoke curling from his nostrils.  
"I can't believe I'm saving a bird." a female voice muttered behind the dragon, who looked behind him in surprise before yelling out in pain, the tip of his tail sliced off as he turned to face the new opponent.  
"Who are you?" The dragon demanded, fangs bared."  
"Doesn't matter much to you does it, scales? Beat it, or I'll cut off your head next." The woman leaned the blood soaked sword against her leg with a grin. "You know I will."  
The dragon looked at her uneasily. He would be punished if he let the girl get away- especially when she was so close to her destination… The dragon let out a loud growl and lunched for Alisha, scratching Hermes on the chest in his frantic grab for her. Alisha yelled and held out her hands to defend herself, fire sprouting from her palms to burn the dragon. The dragon hissed in pain, but grabbed Alisha in his claws, turning around and taking off into the sky with a run.  
"NO!" Hermes yelled, ignoring his bleeding chest to chase after the dragon, taking to the sky, his wings beating madly to try to catch up with the larger creature. He watched with desperation as the dragon continued to get further and further away. There was only one chance left…  
Hermes raised his arms mid-flight, trying to remember to flap his wings to stay aloft as he concentrated. The trees below the dragon reached for its legs, branches twirling around the appendages as the dragon yelled in protest. The trees continued to wind themselves around the dragon until he was pinned to the ground, the leaves covering his body until he was completely covered, held to the ground with strong roots. Hermes wavered mid-flight, his wings giving out for a minute as he flew over toward the dragon, taking Alisha out of its claw.  
"Are you alright?" he said, his voice raspy from the effort of using so much magic.  
"Yeah- are you?" Alisha looked him over, her eyes wide. "Oh my God- look at you! We have to get you to Que!"  
"I'm fine." Hermes muttered, but his leg gave out as he tried to step forward. "Maybe not." He growled in frustration.  
"You shouldn't have used so much magic like that- you look exhausted." Alisha looked to Hermes in concern.  
"I'll be fine. Don't worry so much." Hermes smiled as Alisha wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders, letting him lean on her for support as they started walking back toward the others. "All that matters is that you're safe."  
Alisha smiled slightly, but glanced to Hermes. "It's not worth your life, Hermes. I don't want you to die for me." She whispered.  
"Too bad. If it means your safety, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I don't want to see you hurt." He said simply, shrugging with a wince at the pain the motion caused in his chest.  
"Just shut up and stay still. You'll hurt yourself more." Alisha grumbled.  
"Yes, ma'am." Hermes grinned wryly.


	21. Chapter 21

"I should start charging each time I have to heal someone." Que muttered as she set her glowing hands against Hermes' scratches on his chest.  
"Very funny." Hermes muttered, looking over to the newest among them. She had her right eye shut as she looked around them, but the left eye was a deep brown.  
"So why are you folks getting attacked my dragons? Did you step on his tail or something?" She looked around warily, her eyes stopping on Hermes more than anyone else.  
"No." Alisha smiled softly. "He wanted to kill me."  
The woman looked to her, glancing over her with a wide eye. "You're a human." She gasped. "How did a human get here?"  
"My name is Alisha, and Hermes brought me here." Alisha pointed over to Hermes, who brought up a hand in greeting as he was healed.  
The woman narrowed her eye at him warily, looking back to Alisha. "He brought you here? Why? Are you important?"  
"I didn't know it back then, but apparently I am. You know Stardust and Sinto?"  
"Of course. Everyone knows who they are."  
"They're my mom and dad." Alisha said simply.  
The woman stared at her for a minute, looking to the rest of them for their reactions to her statement. None of the others seemed the least bit surprised- on the contrary, they seemed to be waiting for _her _reaction to it.  
"Can you prove it?" She asked cautiously.  
Alisha sighed and moved her long hair that had been hanging over her face, revealing the long swirling scar that covered her cheek and neck.  
The woman stared for a minute before breathing out a heavy breath of shock. "Alright then, you're the daughter of two of the most powerful beings in this world. No big deal, right? Well either way it looks like Asmarath knows who you are- so I'm coming with you."  
"No way." Kandor growled. He didn't like the look of this newcomer.  
"Got a problem with me, feathers?" The woman looked at Kandor with a suddenly cold expression.  
"Yes- you have too much of an attitude. We don't even know your name." Kandor said, his voice hard.  
"Well, my name is Risk. Problem one solved. As for my attitude, I suggest you get used to it."  
"Do you have a problem with birds or something?" Pirko grinned wryly.  
"Maybe. I have my reasons." Risk bared her fangs, her golden cat ears flipping back angrily.  
"No big deal, just wondering." Pirko shrugged.  
"I have to ask- for some reason it's bugging me." Hermes stood and pointed to her earrings, which were short black feathers. "Where did you get those feathers?"  
"Oh, some macho shadow decided I looked weak enough to fight. Too bad he was wrong. Got some of his wing lopped off in the effort, too." Risk grinned. "He looked a lot like you, actually. Except darker."  
Hermes' mouth pressed into a hard line. "I think you might have seen my shadow."  
"Is that so? Well next time I see him I'll be sure to tell you." Risk grinned slyly, and looking around expectantly. "So where are you guys heading?"  
"North- Alisha needs to be trained by Orisir." Hermes grumbled. He wasn't liking Risk much either.  
"Alright then, let's move out. I don't doubt that dragon will be back soon- and with a very bad attitude, I bet." Risk pointed over her shoulder at the large chunk of tail behind her, her feather-shaped sword strapped to her belt.  
Alisha nodded, looking over to Hermes to see if he was alright. The scratches weren't healed all the way, but Que was starting to look tired.  
"Why is it that you and Pirko are always the ones to get hurt?" Que looked up at Hermes. "You should be more careful."  
"I'll keep that in mind." Hermes chuckled, looking up to Alisha's concerned expression. "I'll be alright." He said reassuringly, brushing the back of his hand against her cheek absentmindedly. Que let out a high pitched giggle and ran over to Irtasu as Pirko growled from the other side of Risk.

"I'm starting to get really annoyed with all this snow." Pirko growled as he trudged through the now knee-high drifts of snow between the trees.  
"Oh stop complaining. This is nothing." Que chuckled, wading easily through the snow ahead of everyone else.  
"It is getting rather cold." Hermes said, trying to keep his teeth from chattering as he walked beside Alisha, who seemed rather used to the large amounts of snow around her. "I'm just glad I'm used to snow like this." She laughed, looking to Hermes, who was used to more tropical climates. "You alright?"  
"I will be." He said, wincing as his teeth chattered at the end of his sentence.  
"Well well." A voice said from the trees beside them, the entire group taking on a defensive stance in almost an instant after the last encounter. Risk looked around with her good eye, sniffing the air and pausing in confusion.  
"Looks like you finally showed up. Do you know how long we've been waiting in this spot?" A deep voice said, as a man walked toward them. He looked around at the group with amused purple eyes, and grinned wryly. "I'm not going to attack you, lower your weapons."  
Hermes watched him closely, still standing between the stranger and Alisha. "Who are you?"  
"My name is Gleddon. And you, bird-boy need to get a better coat than what your wearing. You're going to be an ice cube by the time you get up north."  
Hermes glared back at the man, suddenly more wary. "How do you know we are heading north?"  
Gleddon just rolled his eyes. "By the direction you were walking."  
"Oh." Hermes blinked in surprise.  
"My alpha, Garu would like to meet you if you'll follow me." Gleddon pointed toward the forest behind him.  
"We'd better follow him, Hermes." Pirko whispered to him, leaning over.  
"Why?" Hermes said, not liking the way Gleddon knew them so well.  
"Because I think he's a werewolf." Pirko said uneasily, keeping an eye on the man as he waited impatiently, a bare foot tapping on the snow.  
"You think so?" Hermes said in surprise, glancing over as well. "Alright, we'll go- but keep an eye open for trouble." He stood up from talking with Pirko and looked over to the man. "Alright, we'll follow."  
"Good. Misa will be happy to finally meet you." Gleddon said, turning around and walking back through the forest.  
"Who's Misa?" Alisha whispered to Hermes, who only shrugged in confusion.

"Head's up everyone, I have some visitors." Gleddon shouted before entering into a clearing, the people gathered there looking up curiously. A shout came from one of them and a girl jumped up from her spot, looking over the group walking behind Gleddon with eagerness.  
"It's you! All of you!" She said giddily, clapping her hands together.  
"Calm down." A silver-haired man behind her laughed, standing as well before he walked forward beside her. "My name is Garu and this is my mate, Misa. This may sound strange to you, but we have been waiting a long time to meet you guys." Garu grinned.  
"Okay, how can you be waiting for us? We have no idea who you are." Pirko asked, looking around at the legendary werewolf pack- the next strongest race other than the sorcerers. The sheer number of them was making him uneasy.  
"I will leave Misa to explain that." Garu motioned to the girl beside her, who was beaming with happiness.  
"I'm Misa, pleased to meet you." She made a small curtsy, and Garu couldn't help but laugh.  
"Don't be so formal- just tell them." He grinned.  
Misa chuckled and looked back up, her pink eyes wide. "I am a soul binder, such as yourself. I have been seeing visions of you for many years now- not all of them good, unfortunately." She stopped uneasily before continuing. "But know this- I see not only the future, but also the present. What is to come is never set in stone, and changes with the different decisions you must make. I can show you the current future if you'd like, but it may not be the one that will happen."  
"You can show the future?" Hermes' eyes widened. "Wait- you're an albino, aren't you?"  
"And a deer- you're the-" Pirko looked to her with wide eyes as well.  
"Yes yes, the white doe." She waved a hand dismissively. "I cannot show you all the future- only one of you, and I was thinking it would be the sorceress." Misa pointed toward Alisha, who looked to the others uneasily before nodding.  
"You're saying this is only a possible future, right?"  
"Correct- one that will come about if the same decisions made now, apply then as well. Which is not usually the case, especially when it comes to great battles like what is to come."  
"Great battles?" Hermes asked.  
"Yes, the battle that will determine whether Wonderland falls or prevails. Asmarath not only wants to rule Wonderland, he wants to destroy it." Garu explained.  
The group went silent for a little bit as the news hit them.  
"So, what we're doing not only will save us, but _everyone_?" Que squeaked in shock.  
"Correct." Garu nodded.  
"No pressure." Alisha muttered.  
"Do not worry sorceress, the pack has pledged allegiance to you. We will fight in your defense." Garu looked back toward the other wolves, who nodded.  
"Wow, um thanks." Alisha smiled.  
"Okay- now, hold still." Misa said, walking toward Alisha with a hand raised. She touched Alisha's forehead gently, and Alisha stiffened as the vision was transferred into her mind.

_Rage filled her until every pore of her being was filled with a mindless red haze. They would pay for his death- and they would suffer like he had. Fire surrounded the land around her, incinerating her enemies while sparing her allies. Pirko turned around to look at her, a large gash cut across his face from a sword.  
"Alisha, stop!" He yelled, defending off another shadow from Arya as she clutched at her shoulder, blood falling down her arm.  
Alisha could not hear him- her eyes glowed with her fury as she walked through the battle scene, toward her enemy at the far side. She was blocked by someone, and stopped cold at the sight of him. His black feathers falling around his face were ragged from the fight he had internally fought- and the blue red and yellow roots the only thing that remained of him. Red eyes looked up at her as a cruel smile came over his face.  
Her mind went silent with horror at the sight, and she didn't notice Asmarath behind her until she felt his claws sink deep into her back, her friends cries of pain at the sight as she froze from the agony.  
"You have lost- this world is mine." A raspy voice whispered into her ear as he let her fall to the ground to die._


	22. Chapter 22

Misa took her hand away from Alisha's head, but both remained silent, Alisha starting to shake next to Hermes, her eyes wide in horror.  
"What? What did you see?" He asked, looking at her in concern.  
"We can't… he can't…" She whispered, looking desperately toward Misa.  
"Like I said- the future shifts and changes with everything happening around us. That may not be the way it happens."  
"It can't be what happens." Alisha said, looking over to Pirko, who was staring at her in confusion.  
"What did you see?" Hermes insisted, putting a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.  
"You can't die!" She yelled suddenly, turning and wrapping her arms around his chest, burying her face in his shirt with a sob.  
"I die?" He said uneasily. "Well that's not very good."  
"What else happened, Alisha?" Pirko said, trying to ignore the way she clung to Hermes.  
"We lost." She whispered.  
Everyone fell into a sad silence, looking toward Alisha. "You died too then?" Que asked softly.  
"Asmarath killed me while I was distracted with… Hermes." She said, tightening her grip around his chest.  
"But I thought I died." Hermes looked down in confusion, putting his arms around her reassuringly.  
"You were all… black. You had red eyes, too. You smiled at me, and I got distracted."  
"He got absorbed by his shadow." Pirko said solemnly as Hermes stared at Alisha in shock.  
"I won't let that happen!" Alisha said, tears burning her eyes. "It's unacceptable."  
"That is why we showed you." Garu said, stepping forward. "We must work toward a future in which you win, Alisha."  
"Agreed." Hermes said, tightening his grip on Alisha as she shook against him.  
"I don't know about this future mumbo jumbo, but I do know that we can't lose." Risk shrugged. "And whatever it takes to get that, we'll do it."  
Everyone nodded in agreement, and Garu smiled softly. "I am glad our future is in capable hands. I think we will be okay."  
Hermes looked down to Alisha as she shook against him, her eyes wide as she stared into the distance. "I think it would be best if we stayed here for the night." He said, putting a hand on her head to try and calm her down.  
"That is- if it's alright with you." Pirko glanced toward Garu, who shrugged.  
"No big deal. Just don't mess with the pack, and watch out for Ashikk." Garu pointed over his shoulder at a man who was trying to see over the shoulders of the gathered werewolves at the newcomers.  
"Thank you." Hermes said, guiding Alisha toward a clearing in the forest, ignoring the werewolves' stares as they passed.

Hermes sat with Alisha on the forest floor, waving a hand in a circular motion so that a large bed of soft vines and leaves formed above the layer of snow on the ground. He moved onto the more comfortable spot, supporting Alisha in his arms as she shook. "Are you alright?" he said in concern, looking down at her.  
"I don't understand something." She said quietly, looking up at him with tear stained eyes. "He looked… different than I remember him from my dreams. Asmarath was standing on two legs, and he looked more human than dragon."  
Hermes looked up thoughtfully, then shrugged. "He is probably using dark magic to change himself back to human. It is not below him to use such dangerous power."  
"How is it dangerous?" Alisha looked up at him, finally feeling calming within the warmth of his arms.  
"Well, when you warp the body you also warp the mind. I do not know if he was already this way to begin with, but using the dark arts has perhaps altered his mind… if you know what I mean."  
"He turned psycho." Alisha whispered in realization. "So maybe he wasn't this bad to begin with?"  
"Maybe not."  
Alisha stayed silent while she thought of what that might mean. She had seen the difference in Phooka when he was trying to change human, and when Brushfeather had stepped in to stop him. He had been almost a completely different person.  
She and Hermes both looked up when a rustle in the bushes signaled someone's approach. Misa came out of the bushes, her pink eyes looking down at Alisha in concern. "I am so sorry you had to see such a horrible future like that. I wish to apologize."  
"There's nothing to apologize for." Alisha shrugged. "It's not your fault the future sucks."  
Hermes snickered, tightening his grip on her affectionately.  
"At any rate, I wish to make it up to you. As I said before, there are many possible futures. I saw this one long ago, when I was first training with Brushfeather." Misa held out a hand.  
"Wait- you were training with Brushfeather? When?" Alisha asked in confusion.  
"A few weeks ago, why?"  
Hermes laughed along with Alisha when they both realized what was going on.  
"That poor man, going back and forth from one group to the other." Hermes grinned. "He was helping us, and suddenly he needed to go somewhere else. He has done this many times now."  
Misa grinned as well. "He did that for me too. For being so all-powerful like he is, he really has to run around a lot. I am actually helping him in his quest by doing this."  
"His quest? What's he trying to do?"  
"Create paradise." Misa held out her pale, slender hands. "Wonderland is an amazing place, if it weren't for Asmarath. The druids did not know what would happen when they forced such an arrogant man into an ugly body."  
Alisha nodded. "And that's why he's trying to turn human again. He doesn't like being a dragon."  
"Would you?" Misa laughed. "I would personally find it quite annoying. I've heard dragons have a very hard time with-" She looked up as Garu walked into the clearing, and blushed. "Nevermind."  
"Have you shown those two their paradise yet?" Garu said, sitting down beside Misa casually, crossing his legs in front of him while winding an arm around her waist.  
"Not yet, you impatient wolf. I am talking with them first." Misa elbowed him teasingly.  
"Well hurry up already, I'm getting hungry." Garu growled, rolling his eyes as his fangs were bared.  
Misa gave him a frustrated look before holding out her hands again to Alisha. "I hope you do not have to deal with such things with your mate." She grumbled.  
Alisha just laughed, and Hermes looked away with a cough, trying to hide his amusement. "You have no idea." Alisha chuckled as she put her hand in Misa's to start the vision.

_A small boy with bright red hair sat on a wall in the bird village, sticking his tongue out at the little girl below him.  
"You can't get up here, because you can't fly yet!" he teased, flapping his small blue, red and yellow wings at the small girl, who pouted beneath him.  
"Just because YOU were taught by uncle Kandor doesn't make you better!" The girl pointed to him angrily.  
"Yeah well MY dad said I'm a very good flyer." The boy said proudly. He looked down at the small girl's wings, still curious why her red, blue and yellow wings had a strange black and white stripe in some feathers.  
"You two play nicely." Ichi stood behind the girl, looking up at the boy with a grin. "If your mother sees you up there, she'll have a fit."  
The boy gulped nervously and hopped down from the wall, flapping his wings to keep the fall from being too hard on his legs.  
"Now come on you two, Hermes is bringing a special surprise with him." Ichi guided the two small children toward the middle of the city, where Lili and Alisha were talking in excited voices.  
"I'm kind of nervous to have them _all_ come here at once. I mean- one or two is okay, but all of them? I'm afraid something might spontaneously blow up or something." Lili said nervously, but she still was excited.  
"Oh please. If something like that would happen, Brushfeather would know. Er- or should I call him Nicholas?"  
"I doubt he'll mind either way." Lili looked down to see her daughter staring up at her with wide eyes.  
"The power people are coming?" She gasped.  
Lili couldn't help but chuckle- she loved the way her daughter called the sorcerers the 'power people'. Then again, saying 'sorcerer' was hard for such a small child. She took her daughter up into her arms, resting her on her hip. "Yes dearie, the power people are going to come talk to Alisha. Now be nice to them."  
The girl nodded, and the boy at Alisha's feet looked toward the clearing anxiously as the first of the arrivals came through the thick jungle brush, followed by Arya  
"Uncle Pirko!" The boy yelled in excitement. Pirko looked over and grinned, leaning down with his arms open to catch the boy as he ran toward them. The boy flew the last few feet, too excited to keep running, and Pirko hoisted the boy above his head, as more people came from the forest behind him.  
"Daddy!" The boy yelled, flapping his wings to get out of Pirko's grip as Hermes looked up at him with a warm smile.  
"Hey there kiddo." He said, and Hermes' eyes widened when the boy flew into his grip. "You learned how to fly while I was gone? Good job." He squeezed the boy in a hug, and looked over his shoulder at a red-haired man. "Alisha's up ahead. Are all of you ready? There's a lot of people in this village."  
"I think we will manage." A black-haired man grinned, looking over to his brother, who's silver eyes held anxiety at the mention of a crowd. "Calm down Rhys." The man laughed, clapping his brother on the back. "It's just a bunch of soul binders. No werewolves or anything."  
They all walked into the city, which remained silent at the sight of the men and women in long flowing robes that walked behind Hermes and Pirko. They walked over to Alisha, who smiled happily at the sight.  
"Hey Angel, look who I brought." Hermes hugged Alisha, then turned around for Caitlin and Bryan.  
"Hello, dear." The blond haired woman smiled, her green eyes bright. "It has been a long time."  
"Yeah. I see the druids were reasonable?" Alisha said, glad to see them back in their human forms.  
"More so than I expected." Bryan said, still surprised."Although Nicholas helped quite a bit. That future thing he has is pretty useful."  
Nicholas grumbled behind them. "Pretty useful he says…"  
"So, what did you want to bring us all the way here for?" Bryan looked down at Alisha curiously.  
"Ah- yes." Hermes said, taking the boy from his shoulders, and setting him on the ground in front of Bryan and Caitlin. "Meet your grandson."  
Byran stared down at the child for a minute before a wide grin came over his face. He roared happily, taking the boy into his arms and holding him out to examine him. "He has his granddaddy's hair!" He laughed.  
The boy giggled in his grandfather's grip, and looked over at his grandmother, who was smiling happily. He held out his hands to her, which sparkled small silver lights in his palms. Bryan's smile softened, and he handed the boy to his wife, who hugged him tightly, tears staining her eyes.  
"You are such a wonderful child." She whispered to the boy, who smiled happily.  
"Well." Nicholas looked over to Hermes with raised eyebrows. "When I said you two should tie the knot, I didn't mean quite so quickly."  
Hermes and Alisha both blushed, but Hermes laughed as he held Alisha against him, smiling as Bryan played with his grandson._


	23. Chapter 23

Alisha blinked in surprise after the vision, a blush coming over her face when she glanced to Hermes, who was smiling curiously.  
"That is what you must fight for." Misa smiled softly. "That is what will happen if you succeed in your mission."  
Alisha nodded, glancing over to Garu, who was trying not to fall asleep beside Misa. "Why is it that the werewolves are so powerful? Other than turning into wolves of course."  
"You will see during a battle. They are great fighters." Misa stood, kicking Garu lightly in the side to wake him up. "Come on, oh ferocious one. I have a feeling the pack will want to speak with you."  
Garu nodded, sitting up, but reaching over and running his palm over her shin, his golden eyes warm. He hoisted himself up with a long stretch, and looked down to Alisha.  
"Feeling better?" He asked.  
"Yeah." Alisha smiled softly.  
"Good. I hate seeing girls sad." Garu muttered before picking up Misa, who squealed in surprised and laughed as he carried her off.  
Hermes held Alisha in his arms, leaning his head down to set his cheek against hers. "Are you sure you're alright? You kind of freaked out back there." He said softly, his voice filled with concern.  
"I just don't want you to die." Alisha said softly, reaching up to feel the feathers of his hair.  
"I will do my best." Hermes grinned and leaned back, setting his head against the tree behind him. "We should get some sleep."  
"I agree- I'm exhausted." Alisha sighed and leaned back against his chest, falling asleep as voices talked in the distance.

"_Well little one, it seems you are doing fine." Alisha looked around to see her and Hermes in the clearing, but a strange haze floated along the ground as a man walked toward them.  
"Who are you?" Hermes said uneasily, raising a hand up just in case.  
"You might know my by Brushfeather- but my given name is Nicholas. Put that hand down boy, you'll hurt someone."  
Hermes lowered his hand cautiously. "How do we know if it's really you?"  
Nicholas rolled his green eyes with an exasperated sigh. "You." He pointed to Hermes "Your name means 'Pretty Bird' in your native speech, and your mother named you that because she thought she was having a girl when you were born."  
Hermes blushed with wide eyes, his jaw hung open in shock. He closed his mouth and looked to the ground uneasily.  
"And you-" Nicholas pointed to Alisha. "You hate the smell of feet, and sometimes think you're in a dream while you're here. I assure you, everything here is real."  
"Doesn't seem like it sometimes." Alisha smirked, glancing over to Hermes. "Well if I know Brushfeather, he never does anything without a purpose- why are you doing… this?"  
"I am connecting both of your minds in a dream simulation." Nicholas explained with a shrug. "Very difficult, and I cannot do it for long at such a distance. I came to say that the passage we thought was safe has been overrun by shadows. You will have to go around through the dragon lands."  
Hermes' blush instantly vanished, and he paled slightly. "The dragon lands? That's really dangerous."  
"The werewolves are agreeing to come with you. They have been scouting the area for quite a few weeks now, and found out about the shadows before you came. You will be safe with them. Nicholas looked into the distance to his left, and his eyes flashed with anger. "Although it seems there is a bit of trouble between them. I will leave you two to deal with it." Nicholas smiled before _Hermes and Alisha found themselves in the real clearing, loud and angry barks and howls sounding in the distance.  
"What's going on?" Alisha stood with Hermes as a wolf burst into the clearing, looking at them with wide eyes. He quickly changed into a man with blue eyes and auburn hair, Alisha blushing at his sudden nudity.  
"You have to come and help! None of us are allowed to, and there's something different about him!" he said quickly, changing back into a copper brown wolf with dark red markings along his body, running back in the direction he had come from.  
"Sounds like Brushfeather was right." Hermes said before grabbing Alisha's wrist and running after the wolf.

"Lukune, stop it!" Misa yelled as two wolves fought fiercely in front of her- gray fur flying until they burst apart, and started circling each other. One was obviously Garu- his yellow eyes looked wide with shock as he fought, a deep gash at his side dripping blood onto his pelt. The other wolf- Lukune, was gray as well, but had a black tail-tip and one black paw. His eyes glowed a strange and menacing red as he circled Garu, his teeth bared and saliva dripping from his mouth in a crazed expression. Something silver glinted against his back in the moonlight, and Alisha tried to get sight of what it was before he turned around.  
"There's something stuck in him." Alisha said to Misa as she arrived. Misa looked closely at Lukune's back, and saw the silver glint as well. "Garu! Get that thing out of him- lower back, left side!"  
Garu looked up in surprise, and looked back to Lukune, craning his neck to get sight of it before nodding with a huff. They met again, Lukune clenching his claws around Garu's neck with a loud crunching sound. Garu backed off, huffing for air with his eyes wide.  
"Why is everyone just standing around?" Alisha looked at the werewolves, in both human and wolf form around the two wolves fighting. They were just staring, some of them looking worried.  
"They aren't allowed to help either wolf in the fight. It's a rule." Misa said, watching the fight with wide, worried eyes. "He's not doing too good- there's something wrong with Lukune. he's never acted like this before."  
Alisha watched the fight for a bit, the gash at Garu's side suddenly gone while he fought Lukune, the blood still remaining on his pelt. "They regenerate?" She gasped in shock.  
"It is very hard to kill a werewolf." Misa said simply, too involved in the fight to pay much attention.  
"Well if they can't involve themselves, then we will." Pirko growled behind Hermes. "I recognize that thing in his back- it's a dagger hilt. A _shadow_ dagger hilt. That would explain why he's acting this way."  
"We need to get it out of him." Hermes nodded in agreement.  
"Just be careful. Garu may not admit it, but Lukune is a friend." Misa whispered, stepping back as Hermes and Pirko stepped in front of her.  
"I'm with you guys too- something might happen that he'll need me." Que added, and Irtasu grapped her by the arm, stepping next to her. She nodded to him and Hermes raised his hands.  
"Ready? We'll have to be quick." He said to Pirko, who nodded.  
"Ready."  
Hermes raised his hands and clenched them so that the tree roots around them grabbed at Lukune's ankles, keeping him in place. The wolf growled in fury, struggling against the roots and biting them so that a few snapped under his jaws.  
"Watch it!" Pirko yelled as Lukune's massive jaws swung around as he tried to bite at the people suddenly climbing onto his back. Pirko tried to grab at the handle of the dagger, but yelled and took his hand away when the metal burned his palm. The wolf kicked with fury, catching Risk and sending her flying. Strong arms caught her, and she looked up to see Gleddon holding her, his purple eyes wide in surprise. She stood and ran back into the battle.  
"Irtasu- you'll have to get it!" Pirko climbed up onto the wolf, grabbing onto its ears to try and control its jaws from biting at them. Lukune broke the last vine holding his feet, turning toward Alisha and Hermes with blazing red eyes. He leaped toward them, buy Garu stood in front of them, his fur bristling with fangs bared in warning. Pirko took a good hold on the wolf's ears and yanked back so that he stumbled backwards from the pain, Irtasu climbing onto his back to try and grab at the sword hilt, but was flung off when the wolf shook his leg. They heard a loud yell and a man pounced up onto the wolf's back from the ground, his ferret tail streaming behind him. He wrapped his shirt around the sword hilt and pulled upward, letting it fall to the ground before he jumped back down to the ground.  
The wolf let out a loud keening sound before falling to the ground with a loud thud, everyone backing quickly away in case he got up again. He looked around him with wide golden eyes before coming to Garu, his eyes wide. He let out a soft whine, flinching suddenly, and lowering his head to the ground.  
Que rushed forward with Irtasu beside her, looking the werewolf over with her hands glowing softly. She stopped, her eyes wide. "He's dead."  
Garu froze, his eyes wide as he walked over to the fallen werewolf, nudging him gently with his snout before letting his head fall back down again. He whined softly as he stepped back, shaking his head in disbelief. His eyes narrowed toward the hilt, and he let out a fierce growl before starting to howl.  
The other werewolves joined him in howling, the noise filling the forest and echoing into the night.  
Garu changed back into his human form, his cheeks flushed with emotion. "They will pay for this." he growled. "We will hunt until we find whoever is responsible."  
"There's a shadow to the north." Irtasu said softly. "He's running."  
Garu looked over to a black wolf with blue eyes, who nodded and sped off into the forest. A dark gray wolf with a white stripe followed him, as did a white wolf with teal eyes.  
A man with brown hair and yellow eyes stepped forward to close Lukune's eyes. "We will bury him as a warrior fallen in battle." He said softly, looking over to Garu, who watched the wolf with wide, bloodshot eyes.  
Garu kneeled down, running a shaky hand through the fur at Lukune's side, stained with his blood before choking and backing away. He turned into his werewolf form and leaned his head against Misa's shoulder, who hugged him gently around the neck.  
"Let it be known- Lukune, first son of Alpha Rurik, has passed." Gleddon said in a solemn tone. Leira beside him lowered her head respectfully.


	24. Chapter 24

Misa wrapped her arms cautiously around Garu's neck, and he relaxed, leaning into her with a soft whine. He shifted back into his wolf form, to better be able to control himself.  
"The shadow is running toward the south. He's heading toward the gargoyle's land."  
"We have to catch him before he gets there." Gleddon said, looking down at Lukune as the other pack stepped forward to examine him, their eyes wide in horror.  
"This is the first werewolf that's died since all of this started." a man with brown hair said, looking toward Garu. "What does this mean?"  
"It means we hunt the shadow down." Garu growled fiercely as Misa let go of him, her eyes grim. Garu's fur bristled as he let out a long growl, looking down at Lukune. "My brother's death will be avenged. Who is with me?"  
Nearly all of the pack looked to him, those in their human forms quickly shifting into wolves. He looked up as two wolves sounded toward the south, his scouts having found the shadow. He looked toward Hermes and Alisha, his golden eyes wild. "You may join us on our hunt if you'd like- but we will not slow down for you."  
Hermes nodded, grabbing Alisha and taking to the air as the pack streamed off through the trees into the forest, following the howls.  
Hermes looked down at Alisha's wide eyes as the pack split into two below them, one side led by Garu, the other by Gleddon and Leira. Hermes descended through the trees, finding the pack joining with two werewolves, one of them holding a man down with a large paw, growling fiercely when he struggled.  
"And who have you found, Coran?" Garu said in a slightly wild voice, his wolf coming out in his expression. "Are you the shadow that killed my brother?"  
The shadow looked up at Garu with wide red eyes. "He attacked me- I couldn't just let him go without attacking back!"  
Garu leaned down, sniffing and backing up quickly in disgust. "You are a wolf shadow. Is your wolf so weak as to not understand the rules of a pack? You are a wolf- you entered our territory, of which the punishment is death."  
The shadow squirmed under Coran's foot, who pressed down harder with burning blue eyes and a low growl.  
"Do you mind if I punish this one, Nina?" Garu looked over his shoulder at the white wolf, who nodded. Garu smiled, his fangs wide as he stepped onto the shadow's chest, Coran moving aside for him.  
"I never got to say sorry to my brother. And now you will pay for that. Your kind has become much too arrogant to think you can attack the werewolves without any retribution. Not only will you pay, but we will punish your entire race."  
The shadow stared up at him as Garu growled, stepping down hard on the man's chest, with a sickly snap. The man screamed in pain, his eyes wide until they glossed over, his breath gone as a trickle of blood seeped down his cheek. Garu packed up, wiping the blood from the man's chest on his paw before watching him for a moment, his eyes sad. "It doesn't help?" He whispered in confusion.  
"You will learn to accept it over time, Garu." Gleddon said solemnly. "Death is new to you- but you will heal."  
The pack remained silent for a bit, a small cry sounding in the distance. Alisha and Misa looked up at the sound, looking around for it.  
"Do you hear that? It's nearby." Alisha looked over toward a bush as the cries continued.  
"Wait- don't wander off." Hermes said in frustration as Alisha walked from the pack, looking through the bushes the cries were coming from. She reached down and stood up, holding a small golden dragon in her hands, the small growling cries from it quieting slightly at the sight of her.  
"Oh no." Hermes put a hand up to his forehead in dismay. "Put it down, Alisha. That thing is dangerous."  
Alisha looked at him as if he were crazy. "No it's not, it's just a baby."  
"Where there is a baby, there is a mother." Gleddon said in agreement. "It is best to leave it be."  
"We're so far from the dragon lands, though." Leira said in confusion, tilting her wolf head curiously. "Do you think the shadow took it?"  
Gleddon looked in shock over at the shadow. "it is possible, but stupid. I'm surprised he was able to take a golden dragon hatchling."  
"Wait." The black wolf, Coran, walked over to the dead shadow, carefully bringing a pouch toward him with his paw. he picked it up in his teeth and brought it over to Misa, who looked inside it with confusion.  
"there's little glass vials in here. " She took one out, shaking the red liquid inside. She opened it and sniffed, her eyes watering from the strong smell. Garu leaned over and sniffed as well, his eyes shooting open in shock. "It's dragon's blood."  
"Okay, now I'm really confused." Leira growled. "What's a shadow doing with a baby dragon, and why did he want dragon's blood?"  
Hermes looked over at Alisha uneasily. "Asmarath is trying to change back into a human. Perhaps he needs dragon's blood to finish the spell. He is a dragon, currently."  
The pack stared at the vial in horror. "If he turns human, he'll get all his powers back, and none of the other sorcerers will." Misa whispered.  
"Which is also why I need training." Alisha said, holding the dragon up to her face. He was only about a foot long- with small stubs of wings forming at its back. It looked up at her with large yellow eyes, tilting its head curiously. It leaned forward and sniffed her, letting out a small purring noise and relaxing in her hands.  
"I think it likes you." Misa chuckled.  
"It is very young." Gleddon looked the small hatchling over, which watched him warily. "Perhaps only weeks old."  
"Well we're going toward the dragon lands anyway, right?" Alisha looked over to Hermes.  
"Oh no- you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"  
"We need to find its mother. I can't just leave a little baby out here to die. That's inhumane." She looked down at the dragon, cradling it in her arms. It seemed to like that, and set its head against her upper arm.  
Hermes walked over, looking down at the small golden dragon, its metallic scales shining. He cautiously poked it on the belly, smiling when it squirmed at the touch.  
"Alright, we'll bring it back." He sighed, poking the dragon again. The dragon cooed and looked up at him, its golden eyes bright.  
Alisha remembered the vision she had this morning, and blushed when she realized that Hermes was naturally such a good parent. The dragon squirming in Alisha's arms, grabbing onto Hermes' hand and climbing up his arm to play in his feather-hair.  
"We should get back to the others." Gleddon said in amusement after watching them. "The rest of the pack will start to worry without their alpha."  
Garu nodded and turned around, waiting for Misa before starting to walk back toward the others.  
"What the hell is that?" Pirko yelled at the sight of the golden dragon, which was perched on top of Hermes' head as he walked, looking around curiously.  
"It's a baby dragon." Alisha smiled, holding out her arms to it. It cooed and jumped off Hermes' head, falling into her arms.  
"Well I know that." Pirko stared at the hatchling. "What are you doing with it? Where did it come from?"  
"The shadow that killed Lukune kidnapped the baby dragon to bring to Asmarath. It had vials of its blood with it. I think it was going to be used as part of a spell."  
"How could they harm such a cute little guy?" Alisha smiled down at the dragon, which flapped its small wings quickly.  
"Well either way, it's dangerous. What if the dragons think we took it?" Pirko muttered, not wanting to admit that the dragon was pretty cute.  
"I will vouch for you." Garu said simply with a shrug. He had changed back into his human form and dressed, and the pack was talking around him, trying to figure out where they should bury Lukune. It was the first time a werewolf had died in Wonderland since Garu's parents. Some of them were debating whether they should bring Lukune back to bury him with his parents- but that was a long journey.  
"The snows will be coming soon." Que said quietly, not wanting to disturb the wolves. "If we're going to get through the dragon lands, we'll have to do it soon. Otherwise we'll be stuck here until spring."  
Hermes' eyes widened. "That would be bad."  
"Yes, it would." Alisha agreed. She went over to Garu, who looked up at her curiously. "I don't mean to be heartless, or uncaring. I've lost a brother in my life too." Alisha said softly, and Garu's eyebrows raised in surprise. "We need to get through the dragon lands before spring, or all of this will be for nothing."  
Garu looked over at Lukune's body thoughtfully, and nodded with a small sigh. "We will bury him in this forest. He will be given the warrior's burial, the first burial since my father." Garu said softly. "I've lost so much because of this place. I wish I were back at the college."  
Alisha blinked in surprise at the statement. "College? What?"  
Garu glanced up at her uneasily. "I am not supposed to speak about it much."  
"Wait- which college?" Alisha asked desperately. "How did you get there?"  
"Misa teleported us there. I believe it was called GVSU. I can say no more."  
"Grand Valley?" Alisha laughed. "My cousin Heather goes there."  
Garu stared at her for a minute before bursting out in laughter. "Fate has a strange sense of humor. We will bury Lukune and accompany you north to the dragon lands, and try to explain why we have their golden hatchling. I am sure they are looking everywhere for him."  
"Why?" Alisha looked over at the hatchling.  
"The golden dragons and the silver dragons are royalty. That little guy there is about as close to a prince as there is in this world."  
Alisha looked over at the hatchling in surprise as it climbed onto Hermes' shoulder, playing with his hair more.


End file.
